Warwickshire County Council has appeared in front of magistrates for failing to install adequate guards on a hot-water pump at its headquarters.
Nuneaton Magistrates’ Court heard that the Council had appointed John Shields, 64, as the resident heating contractor at its headquarters in Shire Hall, Warwick. Mr Shields was checking a heating pump in the basement when the incident took place on 4 October 2009.
He first switched on the boiler to test new pipework that was being installed, and then decided to check the tension of the running belts at the back of the hot-water pump. However, he was unaware that turning on the boiler had activated the pump. As he reached around the pump to test the running belts, his left hand was drawn into an in-running nip, which severed one of his fingers and badly damaged another.
The injury to his other finger was so serious that it needed to be amputated down to the knuckle. He has been left with a permanent stinging sensation in his hand, which has left him unable to return to work.
The HSE visited the scene and found that no guards were in place at the back of the heating pump to prevent access to the moving parts. The Council was issued with an Improvement Notice on 13 October 2009, which required it to install enclosed guarding.
HSE inspector Paul Thompson said: “Anyone being an employer, or in control of work equipment must ensure that dangerous parts of machinery are adequately guarded, and it is unacceptable that Warwickshire County Council failed to do this.
“As a result, Mr Shields has unfortunately suffered serious injuries, which have had a permanent effect on him in an incident that should have been easily avoided if the necessary steps had been taken by the council.”
Warwickshire County Council appeared in court on 6 December and pleaded guilty to breaching reg.11 of PUWER 1998. It was fined £8000 and ordered to pay £5235 in costs.
In mitigation, the Council said it had no previous convictions and had fully cooperated with the investigation. It also highlighted that it had entered an early guilty plea and quickly complied with the Improvement Notice.
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