The Sub-Committee received a verbal report
from the Service Manager (Health and Safety) on the following
health and safety updates:
1)
A company specialising in manufacturing canopies and ventilation
ducting had been fined after an employee’s hand was drawn
into the rotating part of a machine, resulting in serious
injury. An apprentice was being
instructed by another apprentice and a trainee on to operate the
machine. The employee suffered from a
crushed fingertip and a fracture. As a
result of the incident the worker was unable to work for two
months.
The company had not performed
a risk assessment for using the machine or implemented any safe
systems of work including recognising that the gloves presented a
drawing-in and entanglement hazard on the machine. Also they did not
provide staff with adequate training or assess the additional risks
presented by a young, inexperienced person working with machinery
and being unaware of existing or potential risks.
2)
A spring manufacturing company had been fined after an employee had
two fingers of his right hand severed whilst attempting to
lubricate a bandsaw. The worker decided
to replace the blade, as on inspection it appeared to be heavily
worn. He attempted to lubricate the new
blade, by pressing a cardboard tube of wax onto the exposed section
of it whilst it was running.
Although the worker had
received training from the supervisor in using the machine, it was
of poor quality, no formal competency assessment had been carried
out, nor was he certain that he could use the machine
unsupervised. Also, despite lubrication
of the blades in this manner being standard practice within the
company, it was unnecessary as the machine was
self-lubricating.
This incident could have been
avoided. Employees should ensure they
carry out an assessment of the risks and put in place safe systems
of work for the operation of all machinery.
The company was fined
£200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,394.
3)
A sea food processing company was fined after a worker died
following injuries sustained when she was run over by a
forklift. A joint investigation by the
Health and Safety Executive and Police Scotland found that no
site-specific workplace transport risk assessment had been caried
out. It was found the company had
failed to implement effective arrangements for the management of
health and safety and also failed to act on the advice of a health
and safety consultant several years prior to the incident.
The company was
fined £80,000 under Section 2(1) and Section 33(1)(a) of the
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The Service Manager (Health and
Safety) explained that all of the cases detailed could have
occurred in any organisation, including local
authorities. In all three cases, the
same four issues were missing, being the lack of:
-
Information
-
Training
-
Instruction
-
Supervision