Land Rover fined by HSE for neglecting risk assessments

One auto manufacturer has recently been fined after an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive for not doing enough to prevent work accident claims at one Solihull plant.

Auto manufacturing firm Land Rover was investigated by the HSE on claims that it was not performing proper risk assessments in regards to the dangers its workers face whilst using certain classes of vibrating hand tools and whether injuries sustained by their workers could lead to a personal injury compensation claim.

HSE investigators discovered that Land Rover’s Solihull plant was particularly susceptible to accident claims due to a dearth of management and risk assessment regarding the dangers of prolonged use of hand tools.  Investigators found that there were no rotors placed upon the vibrating tools in the plant in order keep track each employee’s time on them.

Guidelines indicate that each employee’s alloted time on such a vibrating tool is not to exceed more than one hour per workday.  At this particular Land Rover plant however it was found that each employee had been using the tools for not one hour a day but for three hours every day.

Two cases of a medical condition called Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome were reported in December of 2006.  More cases came about after a health and safety assessment as well.

Land Rover faced a fine of  £20,000 after a hearing in which they admitted liability for neglecting to provide the proper risk assessment for the amount of time spent whilst working with vibrating tools. The auto manufacturer was also ordered to pay more than £60,000 in legal costs as well.

The Solihull plant was found to have complied with an improvement notice that had been produced in 2007.

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