Failure to Implement Safety Regulations Led to Accident in Paper Firm
Aberdeen Sheriff Court recently fined a paper firm called International Paper (UK) Limited which is based in Inverurie in a case regarding an accident in which an employee lost his arm while trying to insert paper in a machine after it had run out of paper.
The machine dragged the employee’s hand inside it and cut it off. One of the workers who was present in the scene was quick enough to pull him out, so that his whole body was not dragged into the machine.
After the accident, HSE carried on an investigation and found lapses on the part of the employer in erecting barriers around the machine to prevent unsafe access. The employer was prosecuted for the violation of Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and fined £6,000.
John Radcliffe, who was the investigating officer in this case, said that it is surprising that something like this can happen when there are so many safety regulations in place for workers’ protection. He said that the country has been making laws for it for last two centuries, and the only reason for the accident was the carelessness on the part of the employer.
Though the safety regulations are well known, the employers did not do anything to implement the measures that led to the worker losing his left hand forever. HSE has taken very strict view of the accident and has urged employers to be mindful of the health and safety of workers.
The NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health is a qualification designed to help those with health and safety responsibilities, for example, managers, supervisors and employee representatives, to carry out their duties at work more effectively and to protect the organisations for which they work.
