Kelso company fined following traumatic amputation of worker's arm

Date:

30 July 2010

Release No:

SCO/164/10

Kelso-based company, John Hogarth Ltd was yesterday (29 July 2010) fined £16,750 (reduced from £25,000 to take account of the company's guilty plea) at Jedburgh Sheriff Court following an incident where a worker suffered a traumatic amputation of his right arm in February 2008.

The court heard how an employee was attempting to clean a rotary valve four metres above the ground. He slipped and his right arm became entangled in the exposed rotating valve. He was then suspended above the floor as the rotor drew his arm into the mechanism because it had not been isolated from its electrical supply, which was difficult to reach. His arm was severed approximately 10cm below the elbow and he then fell approximately three metres to the floor and suffered severe injuries, permanent disfigurement and impairment as a result.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident revealed that workers could only get access to the rotary valve by a combination of climbing a propped up ladder; walking along a narrow beam and then standing or sitting on a small wooden plank. This was usually done at the start of every shift to clean the valve.

The investigation also revealed that the on/off controls were at ground level but the isolator switch was screwed to the underside of the roof above the valve.

John Hogarth Ltd based at Kelso Mills, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Since the incident, the company has fitted a compressed air line to the body of the rotary valve. To clear a blockage, operators now need to just operate a valve at ground level which introduces a puff of air that clears any blocked material.

Following the case, Inspector Peter Dodd said:

"This tragedy should never have happened but it took this incident to occur before the company assessed the risks with the cleaning operation of the valve. They have demonstrated that the introduction of simple and inexpensive measures have eliminated the routine need for both work at height and in close proximity to machinery which could not at the time be easily and readily isolated from its electrical supply.

"It is the clear duty of those who create risks to manage them and to implement safe systems of work, particularly for work at height which is the most common cause of serious injury in the workplace."

Notes to editors

1. 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. http://www.hse.gov.uk/
2. In Scotland the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has sole responsibility for the raising of criminal proceedings for breaches of health and safety legislation.
3. Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 requires employers to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable the health and safety of all employees at work.

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