Industry news
£8,000 fine after workplace spill
Posted Wed, 11 Aug 2010
A Staffordshire car parts manufacturer is facing a bill of almost £10,000 after an employee was left with serious back injuries in a workplace fall.
Barry Derbyshire, 61, from Cheadle, was carrying out maintenance on a machine used to make exhaust pipes at Klarius UK's Brookhouses Industrial Estate site when he fell off a ledge in August 2009. The impact of the 2m drop fractured one of Mr Derbyshire's vertebrae, crushed another and left him immobile for six weeks. He has not yet returned to work.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates' Court heard that Mr Derbyshire had been looking for an oil leak when the accident happened. The Health and Safety Executive said a guardrail that would have protected the victim had never been installed as it would prevent access to the machine.
Klarius was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £1,982 in costs after pleading guilty to health and safety violations.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
Klarius