Firm fined over electric shock
03/06/2010
A company that makes stationary has been ordered to pay more than £10,000 after a worker suffered a high voltage electric shock that left him permanently disabled.
The member of staff was examining a fault on a plastic welding machine at Chart Design Ltd in Wembley, London, in June 2007 when he received a shock from components carrying several thousand volts.
The electric current severely burned his right hand and forearm, and damaged several muscles. The man was in hospital for 14 days and had to undergo skin grafts to help improve the damage. However, he has not regained full use of his right hand and has been unable to return to work.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident revealed that guard panels, which should have prevented access to live circuits, had been removed. Inspectors discovered that no record of maintenance checks was kept for any of the machines at the factory.
The company also had no first aiders.
Chart Design Ltd - of Luxton Close, Dury Way, Wembley, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at the City of London Magistrates' Court. It was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,330.
Copyright © Press Association 2010