WorkSafe Victoria | A hydraulics company, with locations throughout the UK, has been fined after an employee became trapped in a machine that he was working on at a customer’s premises in Plymouth.

David Lawrence, a 63-year-old engineer, was undertaking fault finding on a laser cutting machine for Pearson Hydraulics Ltd on 26 July 2023 when the cutting bed of the machine dropped and trapped both of his legs. After spending five weeks in hospital, Mr Lawrence had his right leg amputated above the knee and now faces possible loss of his left leg.

The HSE’s investigation found that Pearson Hydraulics Ltd did not have a safe system of work in place for maintenance activities at customer premises. It failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, did not monitor or supervise the work, and did not adequately train Mr Lawrence in hydraulic systems on laser cutting machinery.

Pearson Hydraulics Ltd of Electric Avenue, Witham St Hughes, Lincoln pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £96,333 and ordered to pay £10,701 in costs.

“This incident could so easily have been avoided with the correct risk assessment and implementation of a safe working procedure. Pearson Hydraulics Ltd left its employees to work out their own methods of completing fault finding and maintenance tasks, instead of providing them with suitable training and supervision so it could be done safely every time.”