Manufacturer hit with £300,000 fine after death of worker
A Leicester manufacturer has been fined over £300,000 after a court found it guilty of safety breaches which led to the death of one of its workers.
The Leicester Mercury says Tarsem Singh, who worked for Nylacast died in April 2016, the day after he was hit in the chest by a pressurised plastic rod from a casting machine which was forcibly ejected, striking Singh in the chest at a speed of 81mph – equivalent to the force of eight tonnes. He died of a heart attack in hospital a day later.
Sentencing, District Judge Daber said: “There was no engineering measure which prevented the ejection of the end cap before pressure in the mould had been released.
“The failings in this case were not an isolated incident as the risk existed each time the machine was used. In this court’s judgement, this was an accident waiting to happen.”
Nylacast makes plastic products for the construction and offshore industries.
A statement from the firm read: “Nylacast deeply regrets the incident which occurred in April, 2016 and wishes to reiterate its sincerest condolences to the family of Tarsem Singh.
“Nylacast has co-operated with the HSE throughout the investigation and has pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to help minimise the impact of the court proceedings with the family members.
“Safety is always our number one priority, and as we do with any incident or observation, our practices and protocols have been and are continually reviewed to ensure the well-being of our colleagues.
“Nylacast has created over 100 jobs in the past year alone and now employs over 530 people worldwide. Ensuring the safety of our team is our number one priority.
“Operational meetings, staff inductions, process development and training all begin with safety and have safety metrics and audits integrated within them.
“We continually strive to improve the safety results of operations by reducing physical risk through the design and innovation of process, equipment and work areas, applying high standards of safety performance each day.
“We continue to develop multiple physical and mental health, safety and wellbeing programs across all worldwide sites. Each of these programs apply to everyone working in our facilities – full time, part time, seasonal and temporary.
“While any serious incident is one too many, we learn and improve our processes, working to prevent future incidents. With over 50 years in manufacturing, we are proud of our safety record and the hundreds of Nylacast colleagues who work hard every day innovating ways to make it even better.”
