Safety Signs News

Two injuries in six weeks at Essex firm

23rd January 2014 | Health and Safety Signs

Posted by Nicole Stevens

A firm has been fined after two separate accidents occurred at its plant within the space of six weeks. The company had not taken the correct safety measures in both incidences.

One employee of Fiberweb Geosynthetics Ltd suffered from a head injury that required four staples. This occurred when an 850kg machine part was being lifted. The part fell, and struck the worker in the head.

In the second incident, two employees were manually lifting 70-90kg of plastic. One lost his grip, and the plastic trapped the other's hand against a wrapping table. His finger pad was severed, and his fingertip and nail bed had to be reconstructed.

Both accidents could have been prevented had the firm provided training for its employees, and performed suitable risk assessments. Without determining the dangers of certain types of work, firms cannot take measures to prevent accidents, such as displaying safety signs.

Fiberweb Geosynthetics Ltd pleaded guilty to separate breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974), the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.

Altogether, the firm was fined £22,000 and ordered to pay £604 costs. ADNFCR-2754-ID-801685516-ADNFCR