A Lancashire recycling company has been fined £46,000 for safety failings after a worker broke his arm in a piece of unguarded machinery.

On Monday (31 March), Environmental Waste Recycling Ltd pleaded guilty to a single breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Case details

Preston Crown Court heard how on 7 August 2013, a 20-year-old employee working at the Eden Works plant switched on a heavy-duty conveyor belt used to sort builders’ waste and recyclable materials from skips, and whilst walking through ‘an 80cm-wide gap’ by the side of the machine, his arm was caught by the roller under the conveyor belt and dragged in.

After calling for help, colleagues turned off the electrical supply but it took the emergency services 90 minutes to free him.

The employee was flown by air ambulance to Preston Royal Hospital where surgeons carried out extensive surgery to save his arm, which was badly broken and had ‘lost a considerable amount of muscle tissue’. He remained in hospital for almost a month and has so far been unable to return to work.

The court heard that Environmental Waste Recycling had hired a Health and Safety consultant to carry out inspections of the site in November 2008 and June 2010, but despite both inspection reports highlighting the fact that the conveyor belt was missing guards, the company did not install new ones.

As such, Environmental Waste Recycling Ltd will pay £46,000 in fines and ordered to pay £3,671.30 in prosecution costs.

Speaking after the hearing, Health and Safety Executive Inspector Stuart Kitchingman said: “The injuries suffered by this young worker have had a massive impact on his life, and he still requires hospital treatment. He has been unable to return to work and relies on his parents and family for support.

“It’s shocking that Environmental Waste Recycling was first made aware of the missing guards by its own health and safety consultant nearly five years before the incident but it failed to act on this, even when the issue was highlighted again in 2010.

“The firm should have carried out a proper assessment of the risks facing workers, and fitted guards to prevent access to the rollers on the conveyor belt. Instead, it waited for an employee to be seriously injured before taking any action.”

Waste sector ‘one of the most dangerous’

Injuries and deaths in the waste sector are not uncommon, and the HSE has branded the industry as ‘one of the most dangerous’ sectors to work in after finding that 10 workers and three members of the public suffered fatal injuries in the waste and recycling sector in 2012/13, compared with an average of six deaths in the past five years.

To reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured in the waste and recycling industry, HSE has published the ‘Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) blueprint 2012-15’, which outlines 24 ‘immediate action points’ that companies dealing with waste and recycling need to take to provide clearer training and safer workplaces.

Find out more about the WISH blueprint.