H. Mullins (Earby) has been fined £13,500 with over £1,400 in costs for deliberately compromising the safety guards on machinery for production reasons.

South Tyneside Magistrates' Court heard how the engineering firm, which produces precision engineered components, used Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machines as part of the production process.

The process included machining centres, milling machines and drilling machines.

The guards on the equipment comprises of a sliding door which is interlocked.

In February 2015, a Health and Safety Executive Inspector (HSE) found the interlocks had been deliberately disabled on three CNC machining centres and a CNC milling machine, with the interlock also broken on a CNC drilling machine.

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HSE told the court this action allowed employees to access dangerous parts of the machines during automatic CNC operations, leading to a risk of serious injury.

The court also heard the north east firm had been previously served with HSE Improvement Notices following an inspection in 2008 and a letter sent in 2012 highlighting similar issues.

Mullins (Earby) of Western Road, Jarrow, Tyne and Wear pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

HSE inspector Fiona McGarry said: "The deliberate defeating of safety devices in any workplace is not acceptable.

"This company had received advice on two previous occasions in relation to the guarding standards on CNC machines and had not taken appropriate action.

"HSE will not hesitate to take enforcement action against companies who continually flout health and safety law and put their employees at risk."

(LM)