The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned employers to ensure they properly manage health and safety risks in the workplace, following the prosecution of an Essex company.

Eastern Counties Laundries Ltd, of West Street, Coggeshall, Essex was fined £30,000 with £15,000 costs, at Colchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to breaching section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The HSE prosecution followed an incident on 20 April 2006, at the company's site on the Gorse Lane Industrial Estate, Clacton on Sea. An employee from Clacton climbed into a conveyor feeding into the washing system to dislodge a blocked item of laundry. As he dislodged it the conveyor activated, trapping the employee's neck and hands. He sustained serious injuries, including external bruising and burns, and internal burns to his throat.

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HSE Inspector Julie Rayner said: "HSE's investigation found that blockages in the washing system occurred several times a day, yet there was no formal procedure for unblocking the machine, nor any training designed for such incidents. Workers were regularly climbing into the conveyors, placing them at significant risk of injury. The system for stopping the conveyors in an emergency, which the employee in this incident activated, was also faulty.

"This serious incident could, and should have, been prevented by the company ensuring that proper risk assessments and training for using this type of machinery were carried out. The company should also have taken steps, either at the point of installation or during use, to ensure that when the machine was stopped it exhausted all the energy within the system so components could not continue moving.

"This case illustrates how things can go wrong when risks are not properly assessed and controlled. HSE will not hesitate to take action against those who fall short of the law in such a way."

(CD/JM)