The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has this month warned businesses to make sure that workers and contractors are properly trained to carry out risk assessments and operate safe systems of work, as two companies were fined after a worker lost the tips of two fingers at a paper recycling plant in Greenwich. RCP Macpress and SCA Recycling UK were each fined £15,000 plus costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
James Adams was one of two RCP Macpress engineers sent to repair a damaged shredder at SCA's plant in Greenwich, London, in July 2004. To access the damaged area, the pair used a hydraulic jack strong enough to lift 25 tonnes to open a panel weighing just 100 kilogrammes. This caused it to open suddenly and immediately shut again, trapping Mr Adam's right ring finger and little finger.
An investigation by the HSE found that although the pair had filled in a risk assessment form before starting the job, they had only been taught how to fill in the form and not how to assess the risks. SCA had issued a permit-to-work document to RCP Macpress, but the firm had failed to ensure that their employers issuing them had been properly trained in how the system should operate.
HSE inspector Loraine Charles said, "This incident demonstrates the importance of ensuring that employees are properly trained to carry out risk assessments and to properly operate permit-to-work systems - not just how to fill in forms. A properly implemented system would have made sure that there was a detailed methodology for the work to be undertaken on the shredder, including how access was to be gained to the area that was damaged."
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