Dutch firm fined after Essex worker's arm had to be amputated

Date:

9 March 2011

Release No:

HSE-E-10-11

An international waste recycling firm was today fined £60,000 after a worker lost part of his arm in an industrial incident in Basildon.

Daniel Ali, 35, was working as a process operator at Coolrec UK Ltd, in Harvey Road, Burnt Mills Industrial Estate, Basildon, on 4 April 2008 when his arm got caught in a conveyer belt. Doctors later had to amputate it.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the parent company Coolrec Group BV, of Croy 25, 5653 LC Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Coolrec Group BV was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £22,000 costs at Basildon Magistrates' Court today after it admitted breaching Section 6(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The court heard that Mr Ali, of Laindon, was picking plastic off a recycling line which handled old computer monitors and television sets. A pulverising machine smashed the screens into smaller parts before operators removed materials from the conveyor.

Mr Ali had bent down to clear some wire from the ground when his glove became caught in an unguarded conveyor running underneath the one he was working on. He was trapped for approximately 45 minutes until emergency services freed him, but doctors could not save his arm and it was amputated between the elbow and shoulder.

HSE Inspector Vicky Fletcher said:

"This incident was completely avoidable and has left a man in the prime of his life without his right arm. Coolrec Group BV could and should have ensured the conveyor belts on the recycling line were properly guarded in order to prevent incidents as this.

"This case highlights just how important health and safety at work is. The law is there to protect the workforce and when it is not adhered to people can suffer life-changing injuries such as this one.

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.
2. Section 6(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work... to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed that it will be safe and without risks to health at all times when it is being set, used, cleaned or maintained by a person at work.
3. Advice and guidance for employers can be found on the HSE website: www.hse.gov.uk

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