Health & safety continues to be a hot issue for businesses

Despite national figures from the Health and Safety Executive confirming a fall in fatally injured workers, serious workplace accidents are still resulting in unnecessary injuries and deaths warns Moore Blatch Resolve.

The most recent involved a worker, Matthew Lowe, who sustained horrific injuries, but miraculously escaped with his life after being dragged through a gap no wider than a CD case on a poorly guarded processing machine.

Moore Blatch personal injury expert, Ciaran McCabe, who deals with these types of claims says that whilst national figures are lower, there continues to be a small number of organisations that are still complacent about safety, which can have serious consequences for workers.   

"In Matthew’s case had appropriate guarding been put in place, his accident could easily have been prevented and serves as a warning to other employers of the dangers that can be present for staff operating machinery,” he said.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has now prosecuted both companies involved in the incident, following an investigation at Compass Engineering.

Details from the investigation revealed that Mr Lowe got caught on a computer controlled conveyer system for moving heavy steel beams, after peering into an outlet point to check a line of work.

After his clothing snagged on the machine, he was forced through an opening just 125mm wide on the machine head and suffered injuries which led to both physical and psychological damage.

The HSE investigation found that an absence of guarding in place to protect Mr Lowe from dangerous moving parts was a serious safety failing for both his employer and the machine supplier, Kaltenbach Ltd.