A waste management company was fined after one of its workers fell from machinery and broke their leg.
Simon Pateman was working for Woodhorn Group Limited in Tangmere, Chichester in February 2024 when the incident happened.
Unsafe access leads to entrapment and surgery
He had climbed onto a compost screening machine in order to clear a blockage from the fan housing.
Mr Pateman slipped and his leg became trapped between the machine and its frame.
He had to have surgery to insert a metal plate and screws into his broken leg.
Lack of safe system of work
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had failed to carry out a risk assessment regarding the cleaning of the machine and risk from falling from height from the machine.
The company’s standard operating procedure also failed to provide employees with instructions on how to safely clean and unblock the fan housing.
The company was fined £14,000 and ordered to pay £6,500 in costs at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Monday, March 16.
HSE Inspector Stephanie Hickford-Smith said: “This was an entirely preventable incident that has had a significant impact on Mr Pateman’s mobility and quality of life.
“The measures implemented by Woodhorn Group after HSE’s intervention, including new guarded working platforms around the fan housing and over the ‘stars’, demonstrate what was reasonably practicable and should have been in place all along.”
