One Bristol lighting company has recently been ordered to pay £20,000 in damages to one of its employees by the Health and Safety Executive after the worker brought a work accident claim against the company.
The incident, which occurred this past February, involved a personal injury at work sustained by Mr Rolf Weber in the course of his normal duties at a factory for fabricating light fixtures. Mr Weber had entered a machine’s working area and suffered a minor head injury after a cutter’s rotation continued at its standard speed.
Factory owner Darren Wing was found in breach a regulation in regards to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment rules, the Magistrates Court at Weston-super-Mare declared recently. Mr Wing was not only fined a total of £20,000 but he was also ordered to foot the bill for £1,800 worth in court costs as an additional punitive measure for neglecting to ensure that the particular piece of machinery that caused Mr Weber’s injury was guarded properly.
Christine Haberfield, an inspector for the Health and Safety Executive, remarked that it was only through pure luck that Mr Weber’s injuries were not more severe. Ms Haberfield stated that small head wound suffered by Mr Weber could have resulted in much worse if not fatal injuries since the cutter was spinning at a rate of 18,000 revolutions per minute at the time of the initial injury.
While many health and safety experts agree that employers must take precautionary safety measures in order to offset the risks inherent in injury claims, others also stress the benefit of proper insurance cover as a financial safety net in the event of a catastrophic event does indeed happen whilst on the job.