In-court

Unsecured machinery crushed worker’s foot

Alison Fava

Lancashire based Spectral Colours Limited (SCL) has been fined after a worker was crushed under machinery.

Manchester Crown Court was told how the 57-year old employee of SCL was cleaning the dispersion mixing machine at the company’s premises in Crawford Street, Manchester on 30 April 2014.

The worker sat on one of the clamping arms when it suddenly toppled over and pinned the worker’s leg underneath the machine. The employee suffered a fractured ankle and serious crush injuries to his foot.

Securing to ground

The company had failed to properly secure the machinery on-site to the ground, according to the HSE’s investigation, increasing the risk of the machinery toppling over and injuring employees.

Spectral Colours Limited of Crawford Street, Rochdale, Lancashire pleaded guilty of breaching Regulation 20 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

Spectral Colours Limited was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay costs of £22,444.

More thorough

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Tim Beaumont said: “This case highlights the need for all duty holders to ensure all machinery in their workplaces are properly fixed and maintained to the required safety standard.

“If Spectral Colours had been more thorough in ensuring that the installation of the machinery was completed properly then this accident wouldn’t have happened.”

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