Train refurb company fined £90,000

A Staffordshire train refurbishment company has been fined £90,000 for exposing workers to hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).

Faiveley Transport Tamworth exposed its workers to “uncontrolled and unrestrained” exposure to vibrating tools from 2005 to 2015 at its Amington site in Tamworth, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard.

Company employees used a number of vibrating tools including sanders and air-fed cutting equipment to refurbish train doors.

In 2015, one of the members of staff raised concerns about symptoms similar to HAVS as a result of exposure to the air-fed cutting tool used to remove rubber seals from train doors.

Despite the company being made aware of this, it failed to take prompt action to manage the risk of exposure to HAVS. Later, another member of staff reported that he used grinders up to eight hours a day often until his hands hurt.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Faiveley Transport Tamworth failed to consider the risk to both its employees and agency workers of exposure to hand transmitted vibration (HTV) tools over a prolonged period of time.

The investigation found that there was “little or no oversight” by management to control exposure to vibrating equipment and there was an absence of a safe system of work including control, monitoring and maintenance measures.

As well as the fine, the company was ordered to pay costs of £45,000.

HSE inspector Theresa Hewkin said: “This was a case of the company completely failing to grasp the importance of HAVS health surveillance.

“If the company had understood why health surveillance was necessary, it would not only have ensured that it had the right systems in place to monitor workers’ health but would have identified from the outset that one of their employees has primary Raynaud’s phenomenon and should not have been made to work with vibrating tools because of his likely heightened susceptibility.”