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May/June 2023 issue

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News

Amputation on recycling line leads to £1.275m fine

Open-access content Monday 21st October 2019
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

On 26 April 2015 the employee was working as a line operator when the line became blocked, with waste wrapping around the axle and stopping a lower conveyor. As the worker attempted to remove the blockage, his glove was dragged into the in-running nip between the belt and the powered roller of the conveyor. His left arm had to be amputated above the elbow.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed that the company, which recycles a combination of agricultural, commercial and industrial waste, green waste, paper and cardboard, plasterboard and wood waste, had failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of the conveyor. The castell key system had essentially been bypassed, allowing the system to be operated in automatic mode with persons still inside the enclosure.

At Lincoln Crown Court, Mid UK Recycling -- which was sold to rival New Earth Solutions (West), a subsidiary of the Irish-based waste recycling group Beauparc earlier this year -- admitted breaching S 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £1.275m plus costs of £45,065.

"This incident could so easily have been avoided had the company ensured that the system designed to keep people away from dangerous machinery was properly maintained," said HSE inspector Scott Wynne said. "Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards."

According to documents filed at Companies House, Mid-UK Recycling had a turnover of £37.6m in 2017.

Mid UK, headquartered in Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, employs 420 staff also and operates from six other sites in Lincolnshire. It has been hit by a string of serious fires in the past 12 months and was fined £880,000 in 2017 after an agency worker died when he was dragged through a waste-sorting trommel and then through industrial waste shredder. Two of its directors were handed suspended prison sentences.

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 NZ school board in court after teacher and pupil seriously injured in scaffold fall

Monday 28th October 2019
A school board of trustees has been ordered to pay NZ$100,000 (£49,338) after a teacher and student were knocked unconscious and left with brain damage after a mobile scaffold being used to set up lights in the school's auditorium toppled over.
Open-access content
Image credit: HSE

 Cement firm handed £1m fine over factory fatality

Thursday 10th October 2019
The UK division of building products manufacturer Cemex has been convicted of safety failings after a worker was killed at its concrete block and paving factory in West Lothian.
Open-access content
Image credit: HSE

 Rip saw severed trainee’s fingers

Tuesday 8th October 2019
A family-run construction firm has been ordered to pay more than £58,000 after a trainee worker suffered life-changing injuries when his hand was caught in a rip saw.
Open-access content
Image credit: iStock

 Log splitter sliced off tree surgeon’s finger

Monday 23rd September 2019
A tree surgeon from Devon had emergency surgery on his hand after his finger was sliced off by a log splitting machine.
Open-access content
Image credit: Shutterstock

 Unison launches menopause at work guide

Monday 21st October 2019
Guidance aimed at improving workplace conditions for employees who are experiencing the menopause has been published by public service union Unison.
Open-access content
Image credit | iStock

 ‘Serious corporate failure’ lands DHL with £2.6m fine

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
The death of an employee at the Coventry tyre distribution centre of logistics company DHL has resulted in a multi-million pound penalty. 
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