Company Fined Over Workplace Injury

Industrial and manufacturing companies will only be able to take steps towards protecting their employees from workplace injuries if they use safety guards correctly, a leading expert from Irwin Mitchell has claimed.

David Urpeth stated the case for the equipment as it was revealed that Bedfordshire firm Saint-Gobain Weber had been fined £16,000 after an incident which saw a worker’s finger and thumb severed.

Production supervisor Simon Partridge was trying to unblock a waste extraction system when the incident took place in November 2007. An investigation revealed that safety guards on the machinery could be removed, while the power isolation system was not at the right standard.

Discussing the case, David Urpeth said: “Workplace injuries like this one are often sustained in incidents which would have been totally avoidable if safety guards and other relevant equipment was being used in the correct manner.

“I often deal with cases where workers injured in such accidents have to deal with the long-term impact, and it is likely that the victim in this case will be no different.

“My only hope is that the action taken on this case will serve as a warning to others and raise the profile of the correct use of safety guards in the workplace.”