Safety warning after factory accident (From Gazette & Herald)

Safety warning after factory accident

9:50am Monday 17th March 2008

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THE Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has warned employers to ensure that all their machinery is properly guarded and adequate instructions given for their use.

The warning follows an incident at the Pauls Malt factory, in Malton, in August 2007, when a worker fell through a machine guard, catching his leg in a rotating screw conveyor. As a result, the worker's leg had to be amputated above the knee. Pauls Malt Ltd, of Bury St Edmunds, was found guilty at Scarborough Magistrates Court of a charge under the Provision And Use Of Work Equipment Regulations. The company was fined £3,000 with £2,098 costs.

HSE inspector Paul Robinson said: "This was a tragic and entirely avoidable incident. The employer failed to ensure that proper measures were taken to protect the worker and the consequences of that will affect him for the rest of his life.

"Throughout Britain machinery causes around 800 injuries each year in food manufacturing, of which over 100 are very serious or even fatal injuries.

"The main causes of injury on machines are well known and, in most cases, are preventable if adequate guarding and other safeguards are in place. Nearly one-third of injuries occur on conveyors of various types, so it is particularly important that these are provided with strong and secure guards at points where injuries could occur."

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