Metals firm fined after worker suffers multiple fractures

A Walsall-based metal finishing company has been handed a £24,000 fine after a worker suffered multiple fractures to her leg when a components trolley overturned.

Dudley Magistrates Court heard how the member of staff at Anochrome was carrying out a routine operation known as ‘jigging’, which involves loading and unloading metal parts onto a jig frame, when the trolley and frame overturned and landed on her.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident, which happened in November 2016, found that there was a failure to assess risk, a failure to implement a safe system of work and a failure to ensure that employees were appropriately trained and monitored to ensure that the task could be carried out safely.

Anochrome pleaded guilty and was also ordered to pay costs of £3,775.72.

HSE inspector Mahesh Mahey said: “If a suitable safe system of work has been in place prior to the incident, the life changing injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”