Unguarded machine leads to disqualification of director

The managing director of a re-cycling company has beendisqualified from being a company director for 5 years and fined£5,000 after an employee was seriously injured while operatingan unguarded machine.

In August 1991, the employee lost an arm and was left paralysedfrom the waist down after becoming entangled in the prop shaftdriving a wood chipping machine. This was an old coal-crushingmachine with a 12 metre conveyor, and suitable guarding measures werenot in place to prevent employees coming into contact with the propshaft. The company was also fined £5,000 with costs of£3,903 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 11 of theProvision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992.

The managing director becomes the sixth to be disqualified underthe Company Director's Disqualification Act 1986 for health andsafety offences. The director was very much a hands on manager, whowas present on site on a daily basis and was therefore held to notonly know, but also to be responsible for, what happened on thesite.
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