Outdoor advertising giant Clear Channel UK has admitted health and safety failings after an employee’s hand was caught in a petrol-powered mower.
Bristol Magistrates’ Court heard that a maintenance worker was working at a billboard site, in Bath Road in Bristol, when the incident took place on 22 August last year.
The Clear Channel UK employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, was clearing a blockage from a mower, which he believed had been turned off. While he was removing the blockage, the blade began rotating, severely injuring his fingers and almost severing his thumb. He required a 14-hour operation to re-attach his thumb and repair his fingers.
An HSE investigation found that a safety feature, which cuts out the engine and stops the blades, wasn’t working. Clear Channel UK didn’t have an effective reporting and maintenance system for faults on its equipment, which is why the lawn mower had not been removed from service.
HSE inspector Mehtaab Hamid said: “Clear Channel failed to take the necessary steps to protect its employees from harm through the use of non-maintained or ill-maintained equipment. Such failures led to serious injury to an employee, who has only been able to return to work in the last couple of months.”
Clear Channel UK appeared in court on 20 August and pleaded guilty to breaching reg.5(1) of PUWER 1998, for failing to maintain the mower in efficient working order. It was fined £12,700 and ordered to pay £13,000 in costs.
After the hearing, a spokesperson for Clear Channel UK Ltd said: “Clear Channel very much regrets the incident.
“We have done everything we can to support our employee coming back to work, and taken all the right actions to stop similar incidents happening in future.”
