Weston worker suffers arm injuries in industrial accident

It was reacting to a court case in which a recycling company was fined £24,000 after the worker's arm was dragged into a machine.

The 34-year-old man suffered multiple fractures to his right arm that required surgery to repair.

He had stopped a conveyor belt to remove some trapped material and his arm became trapped when a colleague inadvertently re-started the machine.

The man had been working for New West Gypsum Recycling (UK) Limited when the incident happened on November 11, 2021.

His arm became entangled in the trapping point between a conveyor belt and the rotating drum powering the movement of the belt.

An investigation by the HSE found that dangerous parts of the conveyor were not properly guarded and were easily accessible to employees.

The company did not have adequate procedures for electrical isolation and locking off machinery before working on it.

Taunton Magistrates' Court heard the company had failed to fit the machine with adequate guards to prevent access to dangerous parts and failed to implement a suitable procedure for isolating and locking off the machine from the power supply, before starting any intervention to remove blockages.

New West Gypsum Recycling (UK) Limited, of The Taxiway, Weston-super-Mare, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 2 of the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974. They were fined £24,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,600 by the court.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Dawn Lawrence said “This incident was completely preventable.

"The injuries sustained could have been much worse and should never have happened.

"Failure to securely isolate and lock off is a primary cause of many machinery incidents in the waste industry.

“Companies shouldn’t overlook important machinery safety basics, including adequate guards to prevent access to dangerous parts and a suitable procedure for isolating and locking off the machine from the power supply before starting any intervention.”