Stoke foundry fined £8,000 for worker’s burns

A NORTH Staffordshire foundry firm is having to pay out nearly £13,000 after one of its workers fell into an unguarded pit with temperatures of around 900 degrees Celsius.

Copper Alloys, based in Stoke, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive after the 28-year-old worker suffered burns to his left arm and upper legs when he fell into the pit.

It housed a mould containing molten metal with a temperature of over 900 degrees Celsius, the HSE said.

The HSE said the man, who does not want to be named, had been using a long-handled tool to scrape impurities from the top of a freshly poured casting when he tripped.

The Executive said he fell into an unfenced gap between the metal mould and the pit in which the mould was sited.

He used the tool to try to stop himself from falling into the five foot deep pit but landed on the edge of the mould and his arm was briefly immersed in the molten metal.

His upper legs were burned on the impurities just scraped from the mould, it said.

The HSE said its investigation found there was no guard railing around the edge of the mould pit and the company had failed to recognise the risk of falling.

The man needed skin grafts on his injured limbs, which remain scarred, and he continues to undergo physiotherapy on his arm, hand and fingers following the incident in May last year.

Copper Alloys admitted breaching the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations Act 1992. It was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £4,798 costs.

Copper Alloys had not responded to request comments at the time of publication.