Steel foundry fined £150,000 after death of worker

A FIRM has been fined after the death of a worker at its factory in Sheffield.

Stuart Stead of Doncaster was using a hand-held grinding machine when it exploded into his face and head. He received fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Health and Safety Executive found that there had been several instances of misuse and the company, H.I Quality Steel Castings, pleaded guilty to a serious safety breach.

They found that the abrasive disc was too large for the grinder and was unguarded, and was running at almost double the rotations per minute allowed.

HSE’s investigation found that there had been several previous incidents where discs had come off grinders, however they could not find any mention of them in the minutes of the firm’s health and safety meetings.

H.I Quality Steel Castings, based in Chesterfield, was fined £150,000 and had to pay costs of £24,000.

HSE inspector Jill Thompson said: “This was a horrific incident that devastated Mr Stead’s wife, his children and wider family. It is also, tragically, one that could have been avoided had the company focused on its responsibility to ensure the safety of their employees.

“The safety of Mr Stead and others was not ensured while using hand-held grinders. If monitoring and supervision had been provided to ensure necessary precautions were followed, this tragic incident would not have happened.

“The near-misses should have been a big warning flag to H.I. Quality Steel Castings that there was a serious risk that a worker could be severely injured or killed.

“Employers must make sure that all work involving grinding is assessed for safety to make sure that poor or potentially dangerous practices are removed.”