Maintenance worker injury leads to £190,000 safety fine

Forged metal specialist Wyman-Gordon Limited has been fined £190,000 with £35,000 costs for health and safety breaches after unsafe working practices led to a maintenance worker falling into a pit.

The worker had been changing an oil seal on a counterblow hammer at the company’s premises in Spa Road, Lincoln, when a lifting sling broke under a 169kg load. The load fell, breaking a board the worker was standing on, causing him to fall to the bottom of the pit and causing head injuries.

In his victim impact statement the man said: “I was on sick leave for three weeks. After the accident I became more anxious while doing high risk work. I continue to have a problem with my back. I go to physiotherapy via the NHS when necessary. Currently, it has become difficult for me to get up in the morning because of my back.

“I also have frequent headaches. I have been to different hospitals in connection with that, but no cause has been determined. Also, the accident had a partial impact on looking after my wife as I could not lean forward and bend down for about two weeks. My daughter had to assist both me and my wife during all that time.”

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Wyman-Gordon Limited, which specialises in forgings for the aerospace industry, failed to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of its employees during the ram seal replacement.

HSE said there was no safe system of work that properly addressed work at height and lifting operations. The company should not have lifted loads over employees and either prevented the need to work at height, or used alternative methods for doing so.

Wyman-Gordon Limited, of Holmer Road, Hereford, Herefordshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £190,000 and ordered to pay £35,000 in costs at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on 16 March 2023.

HSE inspector Stacey Gamwell said, “Employers have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working that properly address the risks, had one been in place prior to the incident, the injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented. There is guidance freely available on the HSE Website regarding the safe planning, organisation and undertaking of lifting operations. Guidance is also freely available in relation to working at height safely.”