Could lighting firm's fine inspire health and safety improvements among UK businesses?
October 12th 14:32 Health and Safety
UK businesses could be inspired to adopt facilities management processes in order to improve their health and safety records following the fining of a Bristol-based firm.
Fineline, a lighting firm from the area, has been fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £1,800 in costs after a worker sustained head injuries after walking into a cutter while attempting to remove a finished work piece from the machine.
As a result of the incident, and a subsequent investigation from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the firm pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
HSE inspector Christine Haberfield commented: "It is vital that dangerous machinery is properly safeguarded. In this case, the cutting area should have been enclosed with doors that were linked to the operation of the machine to prevent anybody going into the danger area while the machine was running.
"People can help prevent similar incidents by checking machinery safeguards regularly, to make sure that they are still working correctly."
