HSE | A South Yorkshire wire company has been sentenced following serious health and safety breaches that resulted in the death of one of its workers.
David Lockwood, 45, sustained fatal injuries at Stanley Wire Limited’s site on Talbot Road in Penistone on 18 November 2021.
Mr Lockwood died after becoming entangled in an unguarded wire drawing and recoiling machine. The machine, known as a ‘Gravity Block’, had exposed moving parts which the worker was able to access.
The HSE’s investigation found that the company had failed to take effective measures to prevent employees from accessing dangerous moving parts of the wire drawing machine. The investigation identified that the company should have carried out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for the machine, and subsequently developed a safe system of work and clearly communicated this to its workforce.
HSE also found that fixed closed guards, interlocks or pressure mats should have been installed to prevent operatives from entering the Gravity Block while it was rotating. The HSE advise that the company could have appointed a designated competent person on site and provided formal training to operatives, rather than relying on verbal instruction. Recognised industry-standard safety measures could and should have been implemented on a number of machines, instead of allowing substandard conditions to persist over a prolonged period.
Stanley Wire Limited, of Stanley Mills, Talbot Road, Penistone, South Yorkshire, pled guilty at an early hearing of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £140,000 and ordered to pay £6,652 in costs.
After the hearing, HSE Inspector Charlotte Bligh said: “Following the incident, eight Prohibition Notices were served on the company. The remedial action taken demonstrated that appropriate measures, such as effective guarding, were readily available and could have been put in place had the risks associated with the activity been properly considered.
“Companies are reminded that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required health and safety standards.”
This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer, Matthew Reynolds and paralegal officer, Benjamin Stobbart.
