A
Bristol based manufacturer of concrete products has been fined after a worker’s
arm was torn off when it was pulled into the rotating tail pulley of a conveyor
belt.
Bristol
Crown Court heard the injured man was making adjustments to a misaligned
conveyor belt at Concrete Fabrications Ltd plant in Henbury, Bristol on 18 May
2015.
The
court heard that to do this, the man who does not wish to be named, had to
adjust tensioning rods which were located inside the machine’s guards, in close
proximity to the conveyor belt and rotating tail pulley.
The
worker noticed that aggregate had built up on the tensioning rod and he tried
to knock off the material with a hammer so he could use a spanner to adjust the
rod. However, the hammer was dragged into the rotating machinery along with the
employee’s arm which was severed between the shoulder and the elbow.
The
Health and Safety Executive (HSE), prosecuting told the court that Concrete
Fabrications Ltd should have had adequate guards on dangerous parts of
machinery.
It
said clear procedures should exist regarding maintenance and adjustments of
machinery and arrangements should be in place to ensure that machinery is not
run without the necessary guarding in place, and that clear isolation and lock
off procedures exist.
An
unsafe system of work existed for the maintenance of machinery, in so much that
the dangerous moving parts of the machine were exposed during maintenance
operations. A sufficient risk assessment would have identified the risks
associated with tracking conveyor belts, and identified appropriate control
measures.
Concrete
Fabrications Ltd of Cole Road, St Phillips, Bristol, United Kingdom, pleaded
guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974
and was fined £100,000 with £7758 costs awarded to HSE.
Speaking
after the hearing, HSE inspector Matthew Tyler said: “Company’s need to ensure
the risks associated with maintenance tasks are adequately assessed, and
effectively controlled, through adequate guarding of dangerous parts of
machinery, and the existence of clear robust procedures in respect of
maintenance and adjustments of machinery, including isolation and lock off
requirements. The consequences of not doing this are clear to see here today.”
