A company that designs, manufactures, and distributes construction materials has been fined after an employee suffered serious injuries, resulting in the amputation of his left arm.
On 13 August 2017, a 48-year-old employee of Saint-Gobain Construction Products UK Limited was seriously injured at the company’s plant in Barrow-Upon-Soar, Leicestershire. Two employees were clearing rock that had built up around a rock handling belt. The belt was so compacted that it was difficult to remove the rock by hand. Both men went to the isolator end of the belt, removed the local isolation with the guards still removed, and pressed the ‘start/stop’ button. When they checked the tail-end of the drum, they saw it had not cleared itself of rock. One of the men went to the opposite side of the tail-end drum to remove the rock, and the pair were no longer in visual contact. His colleague pressed the ‘start/stop’ button again while his colleague’s arm was close to the rotating drum, and his arm was drawn in.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found there was no risk assessment or safe system of work in place for clearing rock safely from tail-end drums.
Saint-Gobain Construction Products UK Limited of Binley Business Park, Coventry, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £400,000 and ordered to pay costs of £12,945.62.
HSE inspector Michelle Morrison said, “This injury could easily have been prevented if the risk had been identified. Employers should ensure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.”
