Contractor fined following incident at sewage works

Date:

30 March 2010

Release No:

YH/131/10

A construction company was prosecuted after an incident which saw an employee lose his arm.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident which occurred at a Huddersfield Waste Water treatment works in March 2008.

Morgan Est plc, of Corporation Street, Rugby, Warwickshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 at Huddersfield Magistrates Court.

The firm was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2163.

The court heard that on 12 March 2008, an engineer employed by the company lost his right arm after coming into contact with a rotating screw conveyor on a newly installed piece of equipment at Neiley Waste Water Treatment, Works, New Mill Road, Holmfirth.

Morgan Est plc, the principal contractor was engaged by Yorkshire Water to carry out refurbishment of the waste water treatment works. A new sludge treatment plant had been installed at the works by the firm and was in the process of being commissioned when the accident occurred.

HSE's investigation found that a fixed guard on a screw conveyor had been removed to allow clearance of a blockage of sludge in the conveyor.

The court heard blockages had occurred before but on previous occasions the machine had been isolated prior to any work being carried out.

The Company accepted that it had failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for the clearing of blockages within the sludge plant during commissioning works and that access to the rotating screw arose because the plant had not been isolated prior to removal of the guard.

After the hearing HSE Inspector Dave Stewart said:

"Morgan Est Limited Plc should have ensured the commissioning of the new equipment was thoroughly risk assessed.

Blockages had occurred previously on this piece of plant and a clear and concise method for dealing with the blockages should have been established and communicated to workers on the site.

"Commissioning of plant can often present extreme hazards hence the need for thorough planning and control of such work by employers."

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: Every employer shall ensure that measures are taken in accordance with paragraph (2) which are effective (a) to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery or to any rotating stock-bar; or (b) to stop the movement of any dangerous part of machinery or rotating stock-bar before any part of a person enters a danger zone.
2. Regulation 3 (1) Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of - (a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and (b) the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking.
3. More information on health and safety can be found online www.hse.gov.uk

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