William Sinclair Horticulture Limited have been fined over two separate incidents which occurred at their Ellesmere Port and Lincoln sites.
On 8 January 2015, Darren Taylor, aged 40, was assisting in a deep clean of conveyor belts at the Ellesmere Port site, and used a ladder so that he could remove guards for access. As he ascended the ladder it moved, causing him to fall 1.75 metres to the ground. Upon investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), it was discovered that the company did not have a risk assessment or safe system of work for the cleaning of the conveyor belts or for the safe use of ladders. Additionally, none of the workers involved in cleaning the conveyor belts on the day of the incident had received training in the safe use of ladders.
Furthermore, Bolton Magistrates Court heard that from February 2014, William Sinclair Horticulture Limited had previously received two formal HSE warnings that there was an issue on site in relation to unsafe work at height, but the company failed to take adequate action. The Court also heard that the company failed to heed the advice of a HSE Inspector by not providing adequate guarding on machinery at their Lincoln site. Following a proactive visit by the inspector on 28 January 2015, an Improvement Notice was served to improve the guarding of the conveyors that fed products into the machines.
Subsequent visits on 4 March and 9 June 2015 resulted in additional Improvement Notices being served in relation to machine guarding on the sand line, despite previous formal enforcement action.
HSE inspector Helen Jones said after the hearing: "William Sinclair Horticulture Ltd failed to act on the advice they were given to improve safety standards at both their Ellesmere Port and Lincoln sites. Because the company had failed to ensure adequate control measures were in place to reduce the risk of falling from height, Mr Taylor suffered serious injuries when he fell from the ladder. A fixed platform had already been identified as a better way to control the risk of falling from height, but the company had failed to act to ensure the risks were significantly reduced."
As a result, William Sinclair Horticulture Limited was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations SI 1998/2306, and were fined £30,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £7,071.
