In-court

Worker burns caused by fire from highly flammable liquid

Alison Fava

A paper coating company has been fined after a worker was burnt following a machinery fire.

Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court was told that the employee of Olympic Varnish Company Limited suffered burn injuries following a fire caused by use of highly flammable liquid to clean rollers on a coating machine.

The Health & Safety Executive’s investigation into the incident, which occurred on 10 July 2015, found that the company did not ensure that risks from the use of highly flammable liquids was eliminated or reduced across a number of areas of that activity.

Safe working methods

Olympic Varnish Company Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6 (1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 and was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,505.40.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE principal inspector Andrew Kingscott said: “Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to inform, instruct, and train their workers in that safe system of working.

“In this case, if a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the serious injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”

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