671/W/07 - 30 November 2007

Company fined £50,000 after glass incident results in horrific injuries

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is today urging employers to stamp out dangerous working practices after a Port Talbot company was prosecuted for an incident in which one of its employees suffered horrific injuries when he fell into a skip full of broken glass and then had a pane of glass fall onto him.

Vizor Tempered Glass Ltd, of Baglan Industrial Estate, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The company were fined a total of £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,171 at a hearing in Swansea Crown Court today.

The injured party, Ricky Waters, 38, from Cwmavon, was disposing of waste glass at the company’s premises when the incident happened on the morning of 25 October 2006.

Mr Waters was riding on a stillage being used to carry the glass, which was itself being carried by a forklift truck into the company’s yard. The stillage, with Mr Waters still on it, was then raised by the forklift truck over a skip in order for Mr Waters to begin putting in the waste.

A gust of wind caught a pane of glass Mr Waters was about to place in the skip, which resulted in him falling into the skip, and the glass falling in after him. He needed major reconstructive surgery on his face, suffered a fractured skull and lost the sight in one eye.

HSE inspector Alan Strawbridge said: "The company has admitted a failure to carry out proper risk assessments and a failure to have safe systems of work in place, which ultimately resulted in this incident.

"Companies - especially those dealing with potentially hazardous materials such as glass - need to ensure that they implement and maintain safe systems of work to avoid incidents like this occurring.

"In spite of the terrible injuries suffered by Mr Waters, the consequences of this case could have easily been much worse."

Notes to editors

1. The company was charged with a breach of Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 which states "It shall be the duty of every employer, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."
2. The company were also charged with a breach of Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 which states that "Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work"
3. For more information on health and safety in the manufacturing sector can be found at HSE’s website on http://www.hse.gov.uk/manufacturing/index.htm
4. Public Enquiries: HSE InfoLine, Tel: 0845 345 0055, visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact or write to: HSE InfoLine, Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG.

Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by Government News Network Wales. MEDIA ENQUIRIES ONLY: 0844 800 6823.