Man's work injury sees firm fined £12,000

A Bradford company has appeared in court and been fined £12,000 after one of its employees suffered a work injury.

Halifax Magistrates Court heard RDB Fabrication and Engineering Ltd admit to breaching Regulation 11(b) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, as it had not made sure that the machine used at the time of the work accident was guarded properly.

As a result, the firm was fined and instructed to pay costs of £2,000.

The charges related to an incident when a worker, Jamie Raynor, damaged his hand while operating a hydraulic press. Mr Raynor, 22, was given under ten minutes guidance on using the machine even though he had not operated it prior to the accident.

"A young man has had his life changed forever by a terrible, avoidable accident," Health and Safety Executive inspector Paul Newton said.

Only last month, a Knowsley factory, Matrix Polymers, was also prosecuted after a worker's hand was damaged by a plastics mixing machine.

Published by Hannah Carr