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£150,000 fine for steel foundry after worker dies from mouth injury (18 May 2015)

Date: 18/05/2015
Duncan Lewis, Personal Injury Solicitors, £150,000 fine for steel foundry after worker dies from mouth injury

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has successfully prosecuted a steel foundry after a worker died from serious mouth injuries after he was struck in the face by a shard from an abrasive disc that exploded from a hand-held grinding machine.

The HSE investigation found that father-of-three Stuart Stead, 49, of Mexborough in Doncaster was using the hand-held grinder on a casting on 7 March 2012.

As he used the high-frequency machine, the disc fitted to it suddenly exploded, catapulting fragments across his work bay and a shard went straight through Mr Stead’s visor and hit him in the mouth.

HSE inspectors found that Mr Stead’s injuires were caused by an abrasive disc nine inches in diameter. The grinder had a maximum permissible tool diameter of only two inches unless guarded.

It was also attached to the grinder using a non-proprietary tool. In addition, the disk was rated for 6,650 rpm but the grinder was running at 12,000 rpm.

The grinder had no guard so as it exploded, the pieces were forcibly expelled across the bay, one ending up some ten metres away.

Two of Mr Stead’s work colleagues at H.I. Quality Steel Castings Ltd in Forncett Street, Sheffield, said they had heard a loud bang and one had turned to see Mr Stead collapse to the floor. They ran to his aid and saw the visor broken and the piece of disk in Mr Stead’s mouth. Mr Stead was pronounced dead at the scene.

HSE investigators said the excessive speed of the grinder – coupled with the added load caused by the non-standard attachment – had placed stresses on the disc way beyond its capacity, resulting in its catastrophic failure.

On, Monday 11 May at Sheffield Crown Court, H.I. Quality Steel Castings of Foundry Street, Whittington Moor, Chesterfield was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay £24,000 in costs, after admitting breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.The company had pleaded guilty to a serious safety breach at an earlier court appearance on 9 February 2015.

The court was told that HSE’s investigation had uncovered several previous incidents when discs had come off grinders. However, none of these had been mentioned in monthly minutes of the company’s health and safety meetings for the site.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Jill Thompson said:

“This was a horrific incident that devastated Mr Stead’s wife, his children and wider family.

“It is also, tragically, one that could have been avoided had the company focused on its responsibility to ensure the safety of their employees.

“The safety of Mr Stead and others was not ensured while using hand-held grinders. If monitoring and supervision had been provided to ensure necessary precautions were followed, this tragic incident would not have happened.

“The near-misses should have been a big warning flag to H.I. Quality Steel Castings that there was a serious risk that a worker could be severely injured or killed.

“Employers must make sure that all work involving grinding is assessed for safety to make sure that poor or potentially dangerous practices are removed.”

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