Laundry fined after teen worker was trapped in machine
A laundry company in the West Midlands was prosecuted for serious safety breaches and fined £7,500 after a 19-year-old worker was trapped in machinery and suffered severe injuries. The worker suffered a broken ankle and fractured four vertebrae when he entered a large washing machine to retrieve a fallen item and the machine turned on, trapping him against the floor with a lowered conveyor belt. The worker had to undergo emergency surgery and was out of work for seven months. The HSE found that the gate to the area the worker used to enter the machine was neither interlocked nor fixed in place, allowing free entry into the area with dangerous moving parts and the conveyor belt. The HSE determined that if the gate had been interlocked, the worker would not have been able to enter the machine and could have avoided injury.
Welsh care home fined following resident’s death
A Welsh care home company was prosecuted by the HSE, fined £96,000 and ordered to pay £100,000 in costs for failing to ensure the safety of an elderly resident. The resident disabled the window restrictor in her bedroom, a device meant to restrict the width that a window could be opened, and she subsequently fell from her bedroom window and died. The HSE’s investigation of the care home found that all the windows had the same restrictor and that it was easily over-ridden and therefore unsuitable for use in that setting. The care home should have used stronger window restrictors to ensure vulnerable residents were kept safe.
Utility company sentenced for worker death
After a fatal accident that killed a worker, a utility company that serves Greater London was ordered by the HSE to pay more than £361,000 in fines. The worker was measuring the depth of a sand bed when the driver of a nearby excavator reversed the machine without knowing that the worker was nearby. The worker was struck by the excavator and sustained multiple crush injuries. The HSE discovered that the workers had no formal safety training or instruction and were not required to wear high-visibility clothing. The HSE also discovered that the excavator involved in the accident had no effective rear-view mirrors or a reversing aid or alarm.
