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Health and safety starts with HR

Gateshead firm fined after worker blinded in one eye

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning employers about the need to properly maintain equipment and provide adequate training after a Gateshead company was fined £10,500 following an incident that left a worker blind in one eye. The worker in question was carrying out some grind work when the grinding disc shattered and penetrated the visor he was wearing, hitting him in the eye.

The employer was fined following breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998:

regulation 4(1)

Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is so constructed or adapted as to be suitable for the purpose for which it is used or provided.

regulation 9(1)

Every employer shall ensure that all persons who use work equipment have received adequate training for purposes of health and safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken.

regulation 12(1)

Every employer shall take measures to ensure that the exposure of a person using work equipment to any risk to his health or safety from any hazard specified in paragraph (3) is either prevented, or, where that is not reasonably practicable, adequately controlled.

The maximum fine for a single breach of a regulation under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in the lower court is £5,000.

HSE Inspector Martin Baillie, who investigated the incident, said that employers have a duty to prevent or control risks to people's health from equipment they use at work.

All work equipment must be suitable for use, regularly maintained and inspected and only used by people who have received adequate training. Martin Baillie, HSE

Gateshead Magistrates fined Weldex UK Ltd £3,500 on each of the above charges and also ordered the firm to pay £2,832 in costs.

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