West Midlands-based plastics recycling business Arrow Recycling Ltd has been fined £160,000 after a worker suffered serious injuries after having been crushed by 400kg of baled cardboard.
Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court last week (24 March) heard how Parvez Ahmed, 49, had been working on the company’s Smethwick, Birmingham site on 22 April 2016 when he was crushed under stacks of baled cardboard which had fallen over.
Smethwick, West Midlands
The company which primarily carries out the sorting, shredding and compounding of post-industrial waste plastics, was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident.
HSE claimed that the company had failed to establish a safe way to stack bales of the material and added that the unstable bales had caused the injuries to Mr Ahmed, which included a cracked skull.
Mr Ahmed was placed into a coma for 10 days following the incident, it was claimed.
Plea
Arrow Recycling Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 10(4) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and have been fined £160,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,917.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Mahesh Mahey said: “This incident highlights the need for employers to devise and implement safe systems of work in relation to storage of baled materials.
“If the company had safe systems of work in place Mr Ahmed would not have been seriously injured.”
Arrow Recycling has been contacted for comment by letsrecycle.com but the company has yet to issue a statement.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Plastic
