Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard how, on 22 February 2017, an employee of Fire Protection Group was undertaking a visual inspection of fire suppression systems at CBL’s bottling plant in Kilmalid, Dumbarton.
Side panels that act as fixed guards preventing access to dangerous moving parts inside of the machines were removed so the employee could gain access inside to carry out the inspections. However, only part of the machine was isolated from power sources.
Crushing injures
The FPG employee was crushed and trapped in a Kardex Remstar Shuttle XP500 when the extractor device of the machine was activated. He sustained crushing injuries to his right side.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found both Fire Protection Group and Chivas both had duties to ensure that there was an appropriate exchange of important health and safety information in advance of, and during, the work activity.
As such, both businesses were deemed to have failed to ensure that all the systems were isolated before removing the covers.
Chivas Brothers Limited of Kilmalid, Stirling Road, Dumbarton pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Sections 3(1) and Section 33(1)(a) and was fined £50,000.
Pleaded guilty
Fire Protection Group of 28 Mill Road Industrial Estate, Linlithgow pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, Section 2(1), 2(2)(a) and (c) and was fined £50,000.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Mac Young said: “This injury was easily preventable. The risk should have been identified. Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures, such as permits to work when machinery is safely isolated, to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.”
Meanwhile, potato processor AH Worth Ltd has been fined £300,000 for health and safety failings, after employees were exposed to sulphur dioxide gas released due to poor to planning and unsafe systems of work.
