Company fined over work injury

A chemical firm has been fined over an incident in which an employee suffered a work accident.

Abacus Chemical Ltd, of Greenfield Business Centre, Greenfield, North Wales, recently admitted in Chester Magistrates' Court that it had committed three health, safety and environmental offences.

On February 3rd this year, the court fined the firm £12,000 over the work injury and instructed it to pay prosecution costs of £14,000.

The incident happened at the company's Ellesmere Port factory on May 7th 2009, when chemicals an employee was combining erupted, leaving him with burns.

Dr Jo-Anne Michael, the investigating inspector at the Health and Safety Executive, said: "The company should have conducted a risk assessment in advance, used protective clothing and suitable equipment, and monitored the reaction process to prevent an explosion."

In another recent work accident case, Ixxy's Bagels Ltd was fined by the City of London Magistrates Court after one of its workers, Raakeesh Patel, of Harrow, had his right hand injured in a machine.

Published by Hannah Carr