Company fined £133,000 after unguarded machinery death

A company that pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, following the death of one of its employees, has been fined £133,000 (reduced from £200,000 on account of its guilty plea).

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that John Smith, a 53-year old employee of Railcare Ltd, died on 15 December 2008 as a result of head injuries sustained whilst working at an axle lathe that had an unguarded chuck.

The company pleaded guilty to:

• failing to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the risks to employees when cleaning axles on a lathe;
• failing to implement a safe system of work in that the chuck of the lathe was unguarded when employees were working close to it; and
• failing to provide adequate information, instruction, training and supervision on the use of the lathe.

All of these failings led to the death of Mr Smith. One of the machines that Mr Smith used was a Universal and Production Centre Lathe, referred to at Railcare as the axle lathe.

The axle lathe was somewhere in the region of 25 years old at the time of the incident. Given its age, it did not come with interlocking guarding, but guarding was available for the dangerous parts of the machine and should have been in use. The dangerous part of the lathe was the chuck, which is the part used to clamp and rotate work pieces. 

Mr Smith came into contact with the unguarded chuck and sustained the head injuries from which he died.

The subsequent HSE investigation revealed a number of failings which formed the basis of the charge before the court. Their investigation revealed that it was custom and practice to use the axle lathe to clean axles in this way and that this task had never been assessed for the risks it posed to employees. Moreover, none of the processes in place at the premises had identified the lack of a guard on this chuck.

Following the case, Elaine Taylor, Head of the COPFS Health and Safety Division, said: 

“This case yet again demonstrates the crucial importance of employers carrying out suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to their employees in the course of their daily work, taking the steps necessary to identify such risks, and thereafter ensuring that safe systems of work are in place and dangerous machinery parts are properly guarded. 

“Railcare failed in each of these respects in relation to the axle lathe. As a result, Mr Smith lost his life in an entirely avoidable incident.”