Assistant Editor

August 5, 2019

Get the SHP newsletter

Daily health and safety news, job alerts and resources

In court

Engineering firm pleads guilty for failing to safeguard machine

An engineering firm has been fined £32,000 after a worker suffered extensive injuries whilst attempting to light burners on mould making machine at a Northampton plant.

On 11 April 2018, an RSM Castings Ltd employee leaned into a mould making machine and a pattern plate closed on his head and upper body.

Consequently, he suffered a broken neck, back fractures, broken ribs, a fractured shoulder blade, a raptured spleen, torn liver, a punctured lung, facial fractures and loss of teeth.

The employee is still unable to return to work due to his injuries.

An HSE’s investigation found there was inadequate safeguarding to prevent access between the closing pattern parts of the moulding machine.

RSM Castings Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and have been fined £32,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1739.70.

After the hearing HSE Inspector, Neil Ward, commented: “this case highlights the importance of foundries checking guarding on their machines and not to be complacent about machinery safety. In this case RSM Castings failed to ensure that the machine was guarded to the correct standard and it could have easily resulted in a fatal injury.”

Watch: the top 5 most-read articles in August 2019

SHP Webinars

Find upcoming live, interactive webinars plus on-demand sessions to watch back at your convenience.

SHP runs regular health and safety webinars on a wide range of topics, from high level thought leadership, to legislation updates and technical guidance.

Click below to see what’s coming up and what you can watch right now...

webinar

Related Topics

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Topics: