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Practice meets perfect
May/June 2023 issue

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Work equipment
Agriculture and forestry
News

Barbed wire fired from hedge cutter and hit pensioner in the neck

Open-access content Tuesday 4th July 2017
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Adrian Pickett had been contracted by retired farmer James Headland, 73, to carry out the work at his farm. Pickett did so using his own tractor-mounted rotary flail hedge cutter, Lincoln Magistrates' Court was told.

The accident happened on 13 February 2013. Headland later died of his injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the contractor had failed to properly maintain his machinery and fit it with the correct guarding.

Pickett pleaded guilty to breaching s 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. He was sentenced to 80 hours of community service and ordered to pay almost £6,560 in costs.

An information sheet published by the HSE, Safe use of rotary flail hedge cutters, lists "being hit by material or other debris ejected by the cutters" as one risk of injury associated with the machinery.

The document goes on to advise operators "check all guards and other protective devices are in place before starting work. Don't use the machine if the guards are missing or damaged."

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Image credit: ©Hoskins/ Associated Newspapers/REX/Shutterstock

 £1.9m fine marks second major 2017 penalty for Warburtons

Tuesday 4th July 2017
Wayne Thorpe, 44, received a skin graft at Nottingham City Hospital. Nottingham Crown Court was told that on 4 August 2015 Thorpe had been working at the company’s factory in Meadowbank Way, Eastwood, and checking dough as it dropped into tins. As he cleaned away dough that had fallen between the tins, his arm became caught in a 40 mm gap between a running conveyor belt and moulder.
Open-access content
Image credit: ©iStock/MatusDuda

 Polluted air on flights linked to aircrew health problems, study finds

Monday 3rd July 2017
The joint study, conducted by the University of Stirling in Scotland and the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, says there is a “clear link” between exposure to polluted air and several health conditions.Unfiltered air is supplied (or bled) to an aeroplane cabin’s ventilation system from the engine compressors and can become contaminated as engine oil leaks over the engine seals and enters the compressor air.
Open-access content

 Falcon vows to learn from latest fatal crane collapse

Tuesday 27th June 2017
Crane erectors David Newall, 36, and Rhys Barker, 18, died on 21 June at a building site in Dunwoody Way, owned by developer and housebuilder Seddon Homes. Post mortems concluded that both men died from crush injuries. A third man, 45, who was also working on the crane, is recovering from serious injuries in Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Open-access content

 Unsupervised joiner’s finger severed by saw

Friday 28th July 2017
Avon Joinery admitted breaching reg 9(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations on 26 July after an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found it had not given the worker necessary refresher training. Coventry Magistrates’ Court was told that the 59-year-old joiner was using the saw to cut tapered strips of wood on 3 February 2016 when his hand came into contact with the blade. He lost most of his left index finger and the tip of his thumb.
Open-access content
Image credit: ©LongQuattro

 £700 wheel handler could have saved JCB reseller £67k fine

Friday 9th June 2017
Holt JCB instructed the apprentice to replace the machinery’s air-filled wheels with foam ones on 8 April 2016, Swansea Magistrates’ Court was told. As he did, one of the 400 kg tyres fell on him and broke bones in both his feet. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had failed to risk assess the job, had not trained staff on how to handle tyres, and did not have any wheel handling equipment at the site in Port Talbot, Wales.
Open-access content
©iStock/kozmoat98

 Worker’s hand severed by incorrectly installed saw

Monday 5th June 2017
The victim was operating a foot pedal saw on 21 March 2016 when his hand came into contact with the rotating blade, Birmingham Magistrates’ Court was told. He sustained a severed hand a wrist.An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found PES, which supplies prefabricated pipework for commercial and industrial applications, had incorrectly installed the machine in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. The failure meant it could be operated from a position that took the operator very close to the saw’s moving blade.
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