Suez Recycling and Recovery has been fined £144,000 and ordered to pay costs of £32,000 after an employee injured his back lifting steps at a recycling centre owned by the company in Lancashire.
According to an HSE statement, Preston Crown Court heard yesterday (May 02) that in September 2016, an employee injured his back after helping to manually move steps weighing in excess of 950kg at the site in Duckworth Clough, Haslingden, after repair works had taken place.
The incident took place in September 2016 in Haslingden (pictured), approx 19 miles north of Manchester
A subsequent investigation by the HSE found that employees would use a scaffold pole under the steps to move them back into position, and that this type of work was a “regular occurrence”.
“Senior staff knew how the steps were moved and that employees had concerns, as it had been reported, yet no suitable assessment had been carried out or safe system of work implemented, to avoid hazardous handling,” the HSE statement explained.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety and Work Act 1974.
Speaking after the case, HSE inspector Sharon Butler said: “Incorrect manual handling is one of the most common causes of injury at work. Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary equipment, information, instruction and training to their workers. If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”
‘Fallen short’
From a Suez perspective, a statement issued on behalf of the company said it had “fallen short”.
“At SUEZ, we put the safety of our employees, and the public we serve, at the centre of everything we do. We have invested significantly in our health and safety management systems over the past decade and created a successful, long-running, ‘Safety in Mind’ programme, which helps us to continually improve our health and safety performance.
“Unfortunately, on this occasion, we have fallen short of our own high standards and this resulted in an injury to an employee although, thankfully, the employee has recovered from this incident. We have learned from this incident and, although SUEZ no longer operates the specific site in question, have reviewed our procedures across the business to ensure similar incidents do not occur elsewhere.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
