The Health and Safety Executive is at it yet again, this time prosecuting an engineering firm based in Gloucestershire after one of its employees sustained serious injuries to his head in an accident on the job.
Cheltenham native, Grzegorz Chylenski, had been working for PG Components Ltd, a component engineering company, to operate a computer numerically controlled machine at the time the incident occurred. The thirty three year old man had reached into the machine in order to retrieve a dropped component, but as he did so, moving mechanical parts struck him on the head, according to testimony given at a hearing in Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court, causing severe personal injury to Mr Chylenski, including a lacerated ear and face and a fracture to his jaw.
The HSE conducted an investigation into the incident, revealing that while the machine Mr Chylenski had been using had indeed been fitted with a safety device that precluded the machine from working while its doors were in an open position, the safety device had been purposely disabled in order to increase the speed of the production cycle, demonstrating a complete disregard for the safety hazard this was to the engineering company’s employees.
The Cheltenham, Gloucestershire firm pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations at the hearing, leading to PG Components (Cheltenham) Ltd to having to pay a fine of £11,200 for the role it played in Mr Chylenski’s injuries. The engineering company was also told to pay a total of £2.777.60 in court costs as well, while the injured worker was given a personal injury compensation payout of £2,500.