Monday 17 March 2014

Ceiling company fined £25,000 for inadequate guarding

CEP Ceilings Ltd.,  Stafford, was fined a total of £25,200 (inc. costs) after a worker required skin grafts on his arm which had been caught in machinery.
The circumstances were:
  • The accident occurred on a laminator on 21 January 2013.
  • CEP Ceilings had not carried out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. 
  • In addition, no safe system of work was in place, and insufficient monitoring of employees took place.
  • Covers protecting the drive mechanism to rollers had been removed to give easier access to the roller.
  • The injured person was removing hardened-on glue from the lower roller when his left arm was caught in the drive mechanism.
  • His forearm was caught in the intermeshing metal gears, which chewed up a large chunk of tissue. He needed a skin graft to help it heal.

The HSE inspector said:
“Mr Turney suffered a painful injury as a result of CEP Ceilings Ltd failing to effectively assess the risk to employees from using and cleaning the machine and then prescribe a system of work which kept employees safe. Workers were left to determine their own methods of cleaning machinery and these unsafe methods had existed for many years. Safe systems of work, information, instruction and training are required to control the risks during both production and maintenance activities. A robust system to monitor employees also needs to be in place to detect any poor practices.”

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