 Home Health and Safety Health and Safety News
Machinery maintenance is a matter of life and death
02 July 2008
The HSE has issued a warning about the importance of regular maintenance after inspectors found serious faults in a machine at Grampian Country Foods Halls factory in Broxburn.
The warning follows a prosecution at Livingston Sheriff Court in July. The company were fined £2,000 at after pleading guilty on failing to provide and maintain plant and systems of work that are safe and without risks to health.
When HSE Inspectors visited the site they found a metal detector on the production line that had the potential to cause a fatal electric shock to anyone coming into contact with it. An immediate Prohibition Notice was served, preventing the machinery from being used.
HSE found that the Grampian Country Pork Halls Ltd ‘s maintenance regime was insufficient and failed to uncover obvious faults even after a worker had received an electric shock.
HSE Inspector Lindsey Reid said,'A fatal incident could have occurred in the circumstances which we found. When we conducted a routine inspection at the plant following the electric shock incident, we discovered that the metal detector was still in a dangerous condition and immediately prevented its use. The company’s inspection system was inadequate so they failed to identify serious faults. This resulted in machinery remaining in operation in a very dangerous condition where workers would only have been aware of the fault by touching the equipment.'
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Health and Safety section
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Email: healthandsafety@usdaw.org.uk
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