Automotive manufacturer fined £3,200 following serious workplace incident

HSE/NE/204/09 28 May 2009

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning employers not to neglect their duties after a worker suffered multiple fractures at a Sunderland automotive components manufacturer.

International Automotive Components Group Ltd, of Highway Point, Gorsey Lane, Coleshill, Birmingham was today (28 May) fined a total of £3,200 and ordered to pay £2,636 in costs after pleading guilty to one breach of health and safety legislation at Sunderland Magistrates Court. It was also ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge.

The incident took place at the company's premises in Wayfarer Road, Southwick, Sunderland on 16 August 2008. Trevor Rollin, from Farringdon, Sunderland became trapped after a tooling rack collapsed while he was using an overhead crane to unload tools from the rack. Mr Rollin suffered multiple fractures, cuts and bruises.

HSE Inspector Fiona MacNeill, said: "Mr Rollin was lucky not to have been killed by the racking which overturned.

"Employers should learn a lesson from this incident - that the safety of work equipment cannot be taken for granted. Safety does not manage itself. Risk management is a proactive process and employers should assess and prioritise the more serious risks in their premises."

Notes to editors

1. In relation to the incident on 16 August 2008, International Automotive Components Group Ltd was charged with one breach of health and safety legislation:
2. Regulation 20 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in that they failed to ensure that the single bay of tool racking used for the storage of service tools adjacent to machine 8 was stabilised by clamping or otherwise where necessary for the purposes of safety.

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Issued on behalf of HSE by COI News and Pr North East