A BUILDING supplies company has been fined £200,000 after a quarry worker lost an ear when he fell into an electric fan.
Stuart Richardson suffered severe injuries to his face and arm after becoming caught in the electric cooling fan of a motor which had been left uncovered at a site in Dunbar, East Lothian, in January last year.
Today at Edinburgh Sheriff Court Laf
arge Cement UK Plc, a worldwide cement manufacturer, admitted two offences under health and safety at work laws which left Mr Richardson severely injured, permanently scarred and impaired.
The court was told that on January 29 Mr Richardson, a welder who had worked at the quarry for nine years, had been asked to help a colleague with one of four motors on the quarry's stacker machine, which crushes limestone to make cement.
The electric fan on the motor had been left uncovered and Mr Richardson became entangled in it when it was switched on.
Fiscal depute Angie Main said it was not known whether Mr Richardson had slipped on mud and fallen into the fan or if he had become caught up while trying to prevent a cable being caught in the blades as he had no recollection of the incident.
He was rushed to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and later transferred to St John's Hospital in Livingston for specialist treatment.
Mr Richardson underwent emergency surgery to repair skeletal damage to his face and needed bone plates and screws to his mouth. His left ear was later amputated.
He has been left with scars to his arms and rib cage and is still unable to eat and drink properly due to loss of control of his lower lip, said Ms Main.
A health and safety inspector who examined the site the day after the accident said there had been no sufficient system of work in place at the time and employees had not been made aware of the hazards involved in the job.
The court was told neither of the men, nor a third man who was operating the controls of the motor during the accident, had had any training in risk assessment.
The following day, the company, which employs 150 people at the Dunbar plant and 1500 in the UK, began training all of its staff and has since tightened its safety procedures, the court was told.
Lafarge pled guilty to failing to provide employees with adequate training, instruction and supervision and admitted failing to make suitable assessment of the risks.
The court was told Mr Richardson has since gone back to work for the company in a more senior role as a reliability inspector.
Sheriff Kenneth Maciver said he had reduced the fine from £300,000 because the company had pled guilty.
"I'm satisfied and I think the Health and Safety Executive are satisfied that steps have been taken," said the sheriff.
"This was a wholly avoidable accident, that is accepted by the company quite properly and I was impressed by the way the company have made no excuses as is regularly the case," he added.
Leicester-based Larfarge, which changed its name from Blue Circle Industries in November last year and has an annual turnover of £400 million, had previously been fined £15,000 for a health and safety breach in Newcastle in 2001.
Duncan Mawby, representing Lafarge, said: "This was a most regrettable incident which should never have happened.
"This is an accident that the company accepts was preventable and the company accepts full responsibility for what occurred.
"Lessons have been learned and an incident such as this should never occur again."
Mr Richardson, who was in court to hear the case, declined to comment.
The full article contains 621 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
