Scottish company fined £16,750 for workplace accident

A Scottish company has been fined £16,750 following a workplace accident in February 2008 which resulted in one of its employees suffering the loss of a limb.

John Hogarth Limited, a firm based in the village of Kelso on the banks of the River Tweed, admitted culpability of breaking section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 after an investigation was conducted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

During the incident in question, an employee was trying to clean a rotary valve that was four metres above ground level when he slipped, leaving his right arm caught in the machinery. This led to his limb being severed around ten centimetres below the elbow and he then dropped three metres to the floor, thereby suffering other severe injuries.

The organisation's guilty plea resulted in the initial costs ordered of £25,000 to be reduced, but HSE inspector Peter Dodd commented: "This tragedy should never have happened but it took this incident to occur before the company assessed the risks with the cleaning operation of the valve."

Posted by Helen Jones
 

04/08/2010 16:06