Firm Guilty of Injury due to Disabled Safety Features

A man who suffered a fractured jaw and facial injuries due to tampering with his machine at work has been awarded 2,500 pounds compensation for injury due to disabled safety features following a Health and Safety Executive investigation.

Grzegorz Chylenski (33) from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire was operating a computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine at PG Components Ltd in Cheltenham, when he reached into the machine to retrieve a dropped component. As he did so, he was truck on the head by the moving parts of the machine, suffering a fractured jaw and cuts to his face.

Following the incident in August 2011, the Health and Safety Executive launched an investigation into Grzegorz´s injuries and discovered that the safety features which stopped the machine´s operation when the door was open had been disabled. It was established that the safety feature had been disabled deliberately to increase the productivity of the machine and its operator.

At Cheltenham Magistrates Court, PG Components Ltd pleaded guilty to causing injury due to disabled safety features and breaching regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. They were fined 11,200 pounds, ordered to pay 2,777 pounds in costs and compensation of 2,500 pounds to Grzegorz for injury due to disabled safety features.