A Greater Manchester construction firm has been fined after an employee was hit by a falling piece of plant machinery and had to have his leg amputated.
According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Rochdale-based Hovington Ltd was sentenced on Thursday for safety breaches that occurred on a construction site in Rotherham.
HSE inspector Trisha Elvy said: “This incident could have easily resulted in a fatality and could have been avoided by simply carrying out correct control measures and safe working practices.
“There should be suitable, defined safe systems of work so that persons who need to work in close proximity to excavators can do so safely.”
Don't miss a thing - sign up for your free North West newsletter - and follow us on LinkedIn
Email newsletters
BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the North West- and you can stay in touch with all the latest news from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria through our email alerts.
You can sign up to receive daily morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from manufacturing to technology and enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
For all the latest stories, views, polls and more - and the news as it breaks - .
the HSE, Sheffield Magistrates’ Court heard that on February 4, 2019, groundworkers, including the injured person, were breaking out ground using a 13 tonne 360 excavator with a hydraulic breaker attached to an automatic quick hitch, as part of trench work to install new drainage of the site at Sheffield Road in Ickles, Rotherham.
The HSE said the breaker became detached from the quick hitch on the excavator.
Latest Greater Manchester Business News
Most Read
It fell, narrowly missing one ground worker, and landed on the injured worker’s right foot. He sustained injuries which led to amputation of his right leg below the knee.
An investigation by the HSE found that the company failed to ensure that a safe method of work was in place when working in the vicinity of an excavator, there was no defined segregation between people and plant, and no use of a vehicle plant marshal to ensure the machine was isolated before pedestrians enter the working zone of the excavator.
Have you followed our yet? Click for the latest updates, stories and analysis from across the region.
The company also failed to implement a dedicated bucket changing area for the changing of attachments to minimise the risk of attachments falling onto pedestrians, the HSE said.
Hovington Ltd of Chichester Street, Rochdale pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The company has been fined £34,000 and ordered to pay £1,935.84 in costs.