Two firms fined after worker loses fingers
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Swinging tube trapped hand of employee cleaning out hopper on lorry-mounted concrete pump
By Roger Brown
TWO COMPANIES have been fned a total of £7,000 after an employee lost three fngers and part of his thumb operating a lorry-mounted concrete pump.
In a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution, Telford Magistrates’ Court was told that the 37-yearold man, who does not wish to be named, had been working with another member of staff for O’Neill Concrete Pumping to pump concrete into a garden in Telford in February 2010.
When the job was fnished he went to clean the hopper and lifted the automatic locking hopper grille.
As he did so, the swinging tube, which is part of the pumping mechanism, moved and trapped his right hand, crushing his fngers.
He was taken to hospital where he had three fngers and part of his thumb amputated. The employee needed extensive surgery and has been traumatised by his injuries.
The court was told that Transcrete (GB) supplied the concrete pump to O’Neill Concrete Pumping, and that defects were found on the machine in question.
Following the incident, prohibition notices were immediately served on two lorry-mounted concrete pumps owned and used by O’Neill Concrete Pumping, due to the failure of the interlocking system on the hopper.
The HSE investigation found O’Neill had failed to ensure that effective measures were taken to prevent access to dangerous parts of the hopper of the truck-mounted concrete pump and that Transcrete had failed to ensure that it was designed to be safe when being cleaned or maintained.
O’Neill Concrete Pumping, based in Bilston, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fned £3,000 with costs of £2,000.
Sandbach-based Transcrete (GB) pleaded guilty to breaching Section 6(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for failing to ensure that the concrete pump supplied was safe between January 2004 and December 2006. It was fned £4,000 with costs of £2,000.
HSE inspector Guy Dale says: “The employee will see his injuries every day and have to change the way he lives for the rest of his life.
“A safe, compliant machine and simple safety checks would have meant the incident would never have occurred.
“Both the supplier and user of the machine had a duty to ensure they were safe and that the critical parts were assessed and the appropriate measures were taken.”
Dangerous parts
Effective measures should have been in place to prevent access to dangerous parts of the hopper of the lorry-mounted pump. The machine should also have been built to be safe when being cleaned or maintained.