£60k fine in worker crush case

A specialist electric engineering contractor has been fined after an employee suffered serious crush injuries.

On 2 February 2016, an employee at Instrument and Control Services Ltd was injured when a top heavy 650-750kg electrical control panel which he was moving fell, trapping him to the ground.

He suffered life changing injuries including a fracture that split the left and right side of his lower pelvis apart.

Failures

Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court heard that the Health & Safety Executive’s investigation found that Instrument and Control Services Ltd, who provide electrical engineering and refurbishment services, failed to properly assess the risks involved and to provide both a safe system of work and the proper instructions and training needed for moving the panel.

Instrument and Control Services Ltd of Canal Lane, Stoke-on-Trent pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, was fined £60,000, ordered to pay costs of £2923.62 and a Victim Surcharge of £120.

Planning

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Marie-Louise Riley-Roberts said: “Those in control of work have a responsibility to assess risk and to devise safe methods of working which their employees should then be trained in.

“If Instrument and Control Services Ltd had ensured that their employees were following to a safe system of work, based upon proper planning, then the life changing injuries sustained by this worker could have been prevented”.

Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders

In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.

Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.

Listen now!