A green waste recycling company based has been fined over £20,000 after an employee broke his leg when he fell from a compost screening machine.
While working for Woodhorn Group Ltd at its site in Chichester, Simon Pateman fell from a compost screening machine while trying to clear a blockage.
The machine was suspended within a large barn and lacked sufficient measures to prevent falls, such as guardrails.
While climbing on the machine, Pateman slipped and trapped his leg between the machine and its frame. He also struck his head on a handrail.
He sustained a broken leg which required surgery to insert a metal plate and screws.
Woodhorn Group pleaded guilty at Brighton Magistrates’ Court and was fined £14,000 and ordered to pay £6,500 in costs.
The investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Woodhorn Group had failed to assess the risks associated with cleaning the machine, including the risk of falls, and didn’t prevent access to dangerous parts of the machine.
The company’s standard operating procedure also failed to provide employees with instructions on how to safely clean and unblock the machine’s fan housing.
HSE Inspector Stephanie Hickford-Smith commented: “This was an entirely preventable incident that has had a significant impact on Mr Pateman’s mobility and quality of life.”
“The measures implemented by Woodhorn Group after HSE’s intervention, including new guarded working platforms around the fan housing and over the ‘stars’, demonstrate what was reasonably practicable and should have been in place all along.”
