A Port Talbot company, Vizor Tempered Glass, has been fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,171, after a worker fell into a skip of glass. The glassmaker pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Swansea Crown Court heard that the company had an execrable safety record, having been prosecuted in 2001 for a similar incident when two other employees were injured.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is reiterating the need for employers to stamp out dangerous working practices. HSE inspector, Alan Strawbridge, said, "Companies, especially those dealing with potentially hazardous materials such as glass, need to ensure that they implement and maintain safe systems in work to avoid accidents like this occurring."
The court heard that the worker was working with a forklift truck carrying glass to be disposed in a skip when the accident happened. A pane of glass was caught by a gust of wind, tipping the worker into a container of broken glass, with the glass pane crashing on top of them. The worker needed major reconstructive surgery on his face, suffered a fractured skull and lost the sight in one eye as a result.
Mr Strawbridge added, "The company has admitted a failure to carry out proper risk assessments and a failure to have safe systems of working in place, which ultimately resulted in this accident."
