BOCM Pauls fined for workers injury and unsafe work place
BOCM Pauls, one of the UK’s leading animal feed manufacturers, was fined after being prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The HSE reports that Christopher Brennan was working for manufacturers BOCM Pauls in September last year, when the accident happened. A conveyor used at the site in Suffolk had become blocked, and Brennan attempted to clear it.
Whilst trying to clear this blockage, his right arm became entangled with the machinery. This caused his arm to be cut off just below the elbow. The traumatic injury has left him unable to work since.
The Health and Safety Executive investigated the accident due to its serious nature and had multiple issues with the firm. Firstly, no safe system of work had been devised for staff to clear blockages. This was despite the fact that blockages happened frequently.
In addition isolators for the conveyors’ power supply were located out of reach with no safe means to access them.
The firm, whose main office is at Valley Lane, Wherstead, was fined £20,000 and told to pay £9,716 in costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was also ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge.
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