The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging employers to stamp out dangerous working practices after a Port Talbot company was prosecuted for an incident in which one of its employees suffered horrific injuries when he fell into a skip full of broken glass and then had a pane of glass fall onto him.

Vizor Tempered Glass Ltd, of Baglan Industrial Estate, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

The company was fined a total of £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,171 at a hearing in Swansea Crown Court today.

-- Advertisement --

The injured party, Ricky Waters, 38, from Cwmavon, was disposing of waste glass at the company’s premises when the incident happened on the morning of 25 October 2006.

Mr Waters was riding on a stillage being used to carry the glass, which was itself being carried by a forklift truck into the company’s yard. The stillage, with Mr Waters still on it, was then carried by a forklift truck over a skip in order for Mr Waters to begin putting in the waste.

A gust of wind caught a pane of glass Mr Waters was about to place in the skip, which resulted in him falling into the skip, and the glass falling in after him. He needed major reconstructive surgery on his face, suffered a fractured skull and lost the sight in one eye.

HSE inspector Alan Strawbridge said: "The company has admitted a failure to carry out proper risk assessments and a failure to have safe systems of work in place, which ultimately resulted in this incident.

"Companies - especially those dealing with potentially hazardous materials such as glass - need to ensure that they implement and maintain safe systems of work to avoid incidents like this occurring.

"In spite of the terrible injuries suffered by Mr Waters, the consequences of this case could have easily been much worse."

(JM)