Newark scrapyard owner fined £50,000 after man died in metal crusher

HSE press release E052:05 - 11 April 2005

Newark scrapyard owner Bill Briggs-Price was fined £50,000 at Nottingham Crown Court last Friday (8 April 2005).

At a previous hearing at Newark Magistrates', Mr Briggs-Price admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in failing to ensure the safety of employees and Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations in failing to complete a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. He was fined £40,000 on the first charge and £10,000 on the second. He was also ordered to pay £6,749 costs.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution followed an investigation into the death of Simon Teece, 45, at Briggs Metal, of Old Great North Road, Newark, on 10 January 2004. Mr Teece from Daybrook, Nottingham, died after a metal shearing machine sliced through him while he was attempting to change one of the blades. Mr Teece had a hand held remote unit that controlled the machine in his possession at the time of the incident. However, its emergency stop device was broken.

After the sentencing hearing, HSE inspector Giles Hyder said:

"Employees were exposed to high and entirely preventable risks and this horrific incident could have been easily avoided if a few very simple precautions had been taken. Properly isolating the machine while the work was being carried out and keeping the machine in general good repair could have prevented this incident."

Notes to editors

1. Mr Briggs-Price pleaded guilty to the offences at a hearing before Newark Magistrates Court on 28 February 2005.
2. Section 2(1) of the Health and safety at Work etc Act 1974 states that "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."
3. Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations 1999 states that "Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work."
4. The maximum sentence from the Crown Court is an unlimited fine.

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