Burnley firm sentenced after workers' hearing put at risk

Date:

22 October 2010

Updated:

1 February 2011

Release No:

HSE/NW/26Equestrian

A Burnley manufacturing company has been sentenced after it ignored a formal warning about noise levels at its factory.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Equestrian Surfaces Ltd for putting its employees' hearing at risk, despite being given two extensions to an Improvement Notice requiring a reduction in their daily noise exposure levels.

The machine at the Burnley factory which caused workers to be exposed to high noise levels

Staff at the factory on Phoenix Way, which makes flooring surfaces for horse riding centres, were required to work for several hours a day near a granulator machine as loud as a chainsaw. The machine uses metal blades to shred material into tiny pieces and can reach volumes up to at 98 decibels.

Burnley Magistrates' Court heard that the company failed to put any practical measures in place to reduce workers' exposure to noise, even after receiving an Improvement Notice and being given advice from a specialist HSE inspector.

A further HSE visit with an independent scientist showed that, although some changes had been made, the employees' daily noise exposure remained high and the changes fell short of what could and should have been achieved.

Equestrian Surfaces Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to comply with an Improvement Notice.

The manufacturer was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay £11,000 towards the cost of the prosecution on 22 October 2010. (The fine and costs were adjusted on 28 January 2011. Please see Notes to editors for details.)

HSE Inspector Matthew Lea said:

"This prosecution highlights the responsibilities that employers have to looking after their employees.

"Noise-induced hearing loss is a degenerative condition and the ear cannot repair itself. It's therefore important that employers take these dangers seriously as there is no going back once hearing is damaged.

"The Control of Noise at Work Regulations require employers to put measures in place to ensure that their employees can work safely, without putting their hearing at risk.

"Equestrian Surfaces could have taken a number of simple practical steps to reduce noise exposure but chose instead to rely on just using basic ear protectors, which in effect is the last line of defence."

More information on reducing noise levels is available at www.hse.gov.uk/noise.

Notes to editors

1. The fine was adjusted to £7,000 and the costs to £3,000 following an appeal by Equestrian Surfaces Ltd, heard at Burnley Magistrates' Court on 28 January 2011.
2. Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It is an offence for a person to contravene any requirement or prohibition imposed by an improvement notice or a prohibition notice."
3. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
4. HSE issues enforcement notices when it finds serious breaches of health and safety regulations. There are two types of notices - improvement, which require changes to be made within a set timescale, and prohibition, which require that work is stopped immediately until improvements have been made.

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