Health and safety consultants offer a huge range of services designed to keep workers safe.  There are countless laws and regulations that must be adhered to in order to protect your business from prosecution from the HSE and claims against you put forward by injured employees. By ignoring the health and safety services you could be putting lives at risk and end up with a fine or worse still, a prison sentence.

Adjusting Rollers Could Have Proved Fatal

A recent case in Cannock shows that many employees are not doing everything in their power to protect workers. In this case a worker was making sure that a multi-roll forming machine was operating correctly. As Adrian Taylor worked on the machine making sure the rollers were adjusted correctly his clothing got caught up in the machinery. The rollers needed adjusting as the steel sheet that was being used was unusually large.

Mr Taylor was wearing a high visibility jacket which was trapped in the multi-roll forming machines spindle. During the accident Mr Taylor suffered a number of injuries which included cuts to his face and back of his head, bruises and punctured skin. Although he has since returned to work the employee of Stakapal Ltd still has bed headaches and muscle pain as a direct result of the injuries he sustained in the accident.

Machine Maintenance

The HSE investigated the accident and visited the scene of the accident. They saw that the special guard rail that should be surrounding the parts of the machine which cause the most risk to the employees had been removed, and it is possible they were removed around two or three years previous to the incident involving Mr Taylor.

Regulations Ignored

In addition to the missing guard rail the Health and Safety Executive inspectors found there were not any interlocking guards around the rolling mills and there was one emergency stop button when their should have been more.  Mr Taylor was working on the machine on his own and he should have been supervised and there had been no proper risk assessment surrounding the adjustment of the rollers.

Stakapal Ltd which is based in Cannock were fined £10,000 and had to pay £5500 in costs after admitting they were guilty in breaching one of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations of 1998. The regulation which they had ignored is in place to ensure that every employer takes effective measures to stop any access to the dangerous parts of machinery in the workplace.

Protect Your Workers and Your Business

Health and safety consultants can help you to prevent any accidents like these in the workplace. This incident highlights the need to follow the regulations and laws to protect workers from serious harm and even death. Simple changes in the workplace such as ensuring there are guards and rails as well as correct supervision and training can make all the difference.

Call 0800 1488 677 to discover which health and safety services can be of use to you and your company.  Whether you are a large or small company, you have responsibilities to do everything possible to prevent this type of incident from occurring. Don’t wait until the HSE inspectors visit, or for an accident to happen, prevention is better than a cure.