Recycling firm fined after worker suffers multiple arm fractures
F&R Cawley fined £100,000 after employee’s arm is dragged into rollers of moving conveyor belt
WASTE and recycling company F&R Cawley Ltd have been prosecuted after a worker suffered serious bone fractures when his arm was dragged into the rollers of a moving conveyor belt. The 32-year-old employee was working at the firm’s Covent Garden Close materials recovery facility, in Luton, on 28 February 2014 when he was asked to clear a blockage on a machine.
The control room operator turned off the power to the machine but Luton Crown Court heard that the company’s lock-off and isolation procedure had not been followed on site for some time. As the worker attempted to remove a bit of waste from the rollers the power was turned back on by the control room operator and his arm was pulled into the rollers.
The worker sustained serious fractures and required three metal plates in his left arm, which he is still unable to use. He will need further operations involving transplanting bone from his hip – with no guarantee of success. It is unlikely he will be able to do manual work again.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the company’s procedures for lock-off/isolation and clearing blockages was inadequate – the computer system in the control room had not been working properly for some time, walkie-talkie radios were faulty and blockage team members were inadequately supervised and trained. In addition, the investigation found the injured worker was not suitably trained to work as a mechanic.
The court was told that after a previous inspection by the HSE in 2012 the company was asked to review its blockage processes after it was observed that safe procedures were not being followed. The potential for a breakdown in communication between the blockage team and the person in the control room was also discussed.
The company provided a new documented procedure but the court heard it fell into disuse within weeks. The judge was satisfied that HSE’s intervention in 2012 constituted a ‘warning that was ignored’ and that if the company had followed its own new procedure, the chances of this accident happening would have been remote.
F&R Cawley Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act, 1974 and were fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £20,763.
Following sentencing, HSE Inspector Andrew McGill said: ‘This worker has been left unable to work following an incident that could easily have been avoided if the company had ensured its staff were properly trained and supervised.’
