HSE prosecutes water filtration company after worker is severely injured

Date:

24 September 2009

Release No:

COI/LON/090924/2009

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging companies to ensure that any equipment they use is fit for purpose and that safe and effective working systems are put into place, to protect employees.

This follows the successful prosecution on Wednesday 23 September of a water technology company at Southampton Magistrate’s Court, after a contractor fractured his pelvis when heavy equipment fell on top of him.

Eimco Water Technologies Ltd of Brunel Way, Colchester in Essex, was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,661.40 after pleading guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, after Grzegorz Trafisz, who was contracted by the company, suffered fractures to his pelvis.

Eimco Water Technologies Ltd supplies water intake systems for power stations - seawater is taken in, re-circulated to cool the power station and then pumped back out to sea.

On 09 July 2008, 25-year-old contractor Grzegorz Trafisz who lives in Southampton was working at Marchwood Power Station Construction site, at Marchwood, in Hampshire. He was assembling two components of a stop-log, which is a steel lock gate used to isolate or control the flow of water. It works as part of a screening system to filter fish and other debris from the water.

The two components that Mr Trafisz was working on each weighed approximately 2,000 kg. They were positioned approximately 0.6 meters above the ground on axle stands, normally used for motor vehicles. One of the stop-logs became unsupported and fell on Mr Trafisz, who was working underneath. He suffered fractures to his pelvis.

The HSE investigation found that Eimco Water Technologies Ltd had failed to take steps to protect Mr Trafisz by ensuring a safe and effective working environment. The risks had not been assessed; the company had failed to follow their own assembly instructions and were not using equipment that was suitable for the job in hand.

HSE Inspector James Powell, said:

"This incident could have been avoided if the company had taken all necessary steps to ensure that not only were their working practices effective but that they also followed them."

"Companies should remember that they are responsible for ensuring that all their employees, whether directly employed by them or not, are entitled to work in the safest possible environment with equipment that is fit for purpose."

Notes to editors

1. Section 3(1) of the Health and safety at work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR (London and South East)