East Sussex-based company Southern Piling Limited have been fined after the discovery it had been operating a powerful rig without a safety guard around the rotating auger.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had previously visited three sites where the same company had been carrying out work and had raised concerns about the guarding standards on each occasion. After this latest visit, the HSE was told that the machine had been in use for at least two-and-a-half weeks, without the guard.
Southern Piling Limited was fined a total of £16,000 and ordered to pay nearly £5,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) SI 1998/2306 and of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations SI 2007/320.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Melvyn Stancliffe said: "There was simply no excuse for the way the machine was being used. It was in the middle of the site and there was nothing to prevent the guard from being fitted. I dread to think, even at low speed, what might have happened had someone inadvertently fallen on to the unguarded auger. This is incredibly powerful machinery, capable of causing life-changing or even fatal injuries."
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