A worker banged his head and broke his leg after falling from a compost screening machine while trying to clear a blockage.
At Brighton Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Monday 16 March), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said that the employee, Simon Pateman, was injured in February last year.
The HSE told District Judge Amanda Kelly that workers had been able to bypass safety measures when cleaning machinery.
Mr Pateman’s employer, the Woodhorn Group, has been fined £14,000 after the HSE prosecuted the family-run firm for breaching health and safety law.
The district judge also ordered the company, of Woodhorn Lane, Oving, near Chichester, to pay £6,500 in legal costs and a £2,000 victim surcharge, making £22,500 in total.
She did not order Woodhorn to pay compensation to Mr Pateman after the court was told that he was bringing a civil claim against the 144-year-old farming and waste management business.
The HSE said: “Simon Pateman was working for Woodhorn Group Limited at its green waste recycling site in Tangmere, Chichester, on Friday 16 February 2024 when he climbed on to a Komtech compost screening machine to clear a blockage from the fan housing.
“The machine was suspended at height within a large barn and lacked sufficient measures to prevent falls.
“As Mr Pateman climbed on to the machine he slipped, trapping his left leg between the machine and its frame.
“The momentum and lack of guardrails around the fan housing caused Mr Pateman to fall backwards on to the gantry, striking his head on a handrail while his leg remained trapped.
“He sustained a broken leg which required surgery to insert a metal plate and screws.
“An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Woodhorn Group Limited had failed to assess the risks associated with cleaning the machine including the risk of falls from height from the unguarded edges around the fan housing.
“The company’s standard operating procedure also failed to provide employees with instructions on how to safely clean and unblock the fan housing.
“The investigation further found the company had failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of the machine, with the interlocked gate not preventing access to employees during the cleaning process for the ‘stars’ – rotating discs used to break down larger clumps of compost.
“HSE guidance on working at height states that employers should carry out as much work as possible from the ground and ensure workers can safely access and leave areas where work at height is required.
“Equipment used for working at height must be suitable, stable and strong enough for the task and properly maintained.
“Employers and those in control of work at height must ensure activities are properly planned, supervised and carried out by competent people including the use of appropriate equipment.”
Woodhorn Group Limited, of Woodhorn Business Centre, Woodhorn Lane, Oving, was fined after pleading guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
HSE inspector Stephanie Hickford-Smith said: “This was an entirely preventable incident that has had a significant impact on Mr Pateman’s mobility and quality of life.
“The measures implemented by Woodhorn Group after HSE’s intervention, including new guarded working platforms around the fan housing and over the ‘stars’, demonstrate what was reasonably practicable and should have been in place all along.”
