Nicholls and Clarke Glass Ltd has been fined £11,200 with £3,977.40 costs after one of their employees was seriously injured when their arm was cut to the bone.
Ian Swain from Dunstable worked in the glass manufacurers' glass toughening section in Bedfordshire. In October 2009, he picked up a large piece of glass which cracked and then shattered, lacerating his right arm and severing muscle, nerves and the artery.
Although Mr Swain was wearing wrist guards, the shard of glass that caused the injury cut into his arm above the guard. The injury was so severe, Mr Swain was given 250 stitches and had to wear a cast for three months and has lost the full feeling in his forearm.
An investigation from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the manufacturer had provided their employees with inadequate and insufficient protective equipment and were therefore in breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. However, the HSE also found that a similar accident in 2008 had not been reported, so they had also breached the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations SI 1995/3163.
HSE inspector Emma Rowlands said "Had Mr Swain been provided with full arm protection he would have avoided serious injury. Guidance on the provision of personal protective equipment for employees is freely available from HSE and trade associations, this could easily have been referred to".
Although Nicholls and Clarke Glass Ltd are now providing appropriate protective equipment to all of their workers, Ms Rowlands stated that "HSE will not hesitate to take action against companies failing to comply with the law".
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