Worker injured after being trapped in machinery
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning those responsible for the health and safety of workers not to neglect their duties following an incident which left a man hospitalised after becoming trapped in machinery.
The Northumberland, company and an individual pleaded guilty to breaches of health and safety following an incident at a Quarry last year. The worker spent six days in hospital with three cracked ribs and bruised lungs after becoming trapped in a rotating, unguarded shaft between a tractor and a water bowser.
The HSE Inspector who investigated the incident, said: "A guard on the machine had become damaged and was removed by the quarry foreman. The foreman instructed the worker to operate the tractor and bowser without the guard in place. It later transpired that the risk assessment carried out in 2004 for the tractor and bowser required checks on the guarding to be carried out on a daily basis and for these checks to be recorded. However, at the time of the incident these checks were not being carried out.
"It is reasonable to expect that had the damage to the guarding been identified during earlier checks, the problem would have been rectified prior to this incident.
"The HSE does not take the decision to prosecute individuals lightly. However enforcement action will always be considered where a person at work, particularly one in a position of responsibility, has by their actions endangered the safety of work colleagues."
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