A Scottish recycling firm has been fined £118,000 after safety failings resulted in an employee severing his arm.

At Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on Monday (6 October), Lowmac Alloys Ltd was fined after pleading guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 2(2)(a) and (c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The court heard that on 8 February 2011, Steven Dawson, then aged 28, was working as a line supervisor for Lowmac Alloys at its Oldhall West Industrial Estate premises in Irvine.

Dawson was separating plastic and paper by hand on the conveyor belt (similar to that pictured) when he noticed a metal container had caught on the edge of the belt’s pulley. He opened an unsecured hinged guard to access the blockage, but, when he attempted to remove the container, his left hand and arm came into contact with the moving belt and the bottom of the pulley and his arm was severed at the shoulder.

Despite undergoing two operations, doctors were unable to reattach Dawson’s arm, and he has since been told he needs further surgery to repair the nerves in his shoulder.

Health and Safety Executive investigation

Lowmac Alloys were prosecuted after a Health and Safety Executive investigation found that more should have been done to prevent workers accessing dangerous moving machinery parts. The investigation concluded that the company failed to:

• provide interlocking guarding to stop dangerous parts moving before a worker entered the danger zones;
• provide effective supervision in order to prevent employees from entering danger zones while dangerous parts were moving;
• provide a safety system of work to clear blockages, ensuring main isolators were locked off to prevent electrical power being supplied to the machinery while employees were in close proximity; and
• make a 'suitable and sufficient assessment' of the risks to the health and safety of employees when exposed to dangerous parts of conveyor belt machinery.

“This incident was entirely preventable”

After the case, HSE Inspector Mark Carroll, said: “This incident was entirely preventable. Lowmac Alloys Ltd had identified there was a high risk of crushing and trapping in the machinery, however, the company failed to provide interlocking guarding to the gate over the conveyor which would have cut power to the machinery when it was opened.

“Had this been in place, then employees would not have been exposed to the risk from the dangerous parts of the machine.”

He added: “As a consequence of this breach, Mr Dawson suffered a horrific, life changing injury.”

Waste sector ‘one of the most dangerous’

Injuries and deaths in the waste sector are not uncommon, and the HSE has branded the industry as ‘one of the most dangerous’ sectors to work in after finding that 10 workers and three members of the public suffered fatal injuries in the waste and recycling sector in 2012/13, compared with an average of six deaths in the past five years.

To reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured in the waste and recycling industry, HSE has published the ‘Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) blueprint 2012-15’, which outlines 24 ‘immediate action points’ that companies dealing with waste and recycling need to take to provide clearer training and safer workplaces.

Find out more about the WISH blueprint.