Building materials company Tudor Griffiths has been fined £44,000 after it failed to keep fixed guards in place on moving machinery at a quarry, causing serious injuries to an employee’s arm.
Telford Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 9 December 2016, a new employee at the haulage operator was injured on his first day working at the quarry when his arm got caught and dragged into the “nip point” between the conveyor belt and rotating tail drum. He needed multiple skin graft operations and now has permanent scarring on his arm.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the company had failed to ensure that the fixed guards were effective to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery, despite this risk having been identified several months before the incident.
The firm, based in Wood Lane, Ellsmere, Shropshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety Executive Act 1974 and was also ordered to pay costs of £2,866. Following the hearing, HSE inspector Simon Edwards said: “This could have easily been prevented and the risk should have been identified.
“Entanglement in conveyor systems is a significant cause of serious incidents in the quarry industry. Quarry operators should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.”
