Engineering company fined after worker suffers head injury
A Bromsgrove engineering firm has been fined £16,000 after a worker suffered a serious head injury while assembling a steel frame.
Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court heard that in March 2018, a Quantum Engineering Developments employee was injured when a steel frame he was assembling came off two supporting battens and fell on him pinning his head to the floor. He suffered a fractured skull and nerve damage.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company did not have a safe system of work in place and there were no risk assessments for assembly work.
The company also failed to provide information, instruction and training regarding the risks of working below heavy components and the precautions necessary to ensure safety, the investigation found.
HSE said the steel frame should have been securely mounted on wheels to keep it safe when employees worked below it, but at the time of the incident it had been supported on wooden battens.
Quantum Engineering Developments, based at Saxon Business Park, was also ordered to pay costs of £1,687.75.
HSE inspector Alastair Mitchell said: “This case highlights the importance of assessing risks in assembly work and the need to ensure safe systems of work when carrying out tasks below heavy components.
“Quantum Engineering Developments failed to assess the risks and had not instructed their employees about safe systems of work to be used. This failure led to an employee being seriously injured.”
