IN COURT

摘要

Machine crush. Rom, a steel manufacturer, has been fined ￡200,000 with costs of ￡17,200, for failures that resulted in a worker losing the top of a finger in a Koch steel straightening machine. The fine represents 7.4% of Rom's most recent pre-tax profit of ￡2,696,000, which it made on a turnover of ￡81,858,000 in 2015. The incident occurred on 23 October 2015 at Rom's site in Lichfield, Staffordshire. A 51-year-old worker was removing leftover steel from the machine, when his hand became trapped between the rotating rollers. The HSE found that Rom failed to identify the risks from workers manually operating the machine and ensure appropriate guarding. It also failed to supervise the activity adequately. Rom was sentenced on 10 May by a district judge at North Staffordshire Justice Centre, after it pleaded guilty to breaching reg. 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, which required it to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery or to stop the parts moving before a person enters a danger zone. Rom was fined ￡5,000 in 2008 for PUWER and risk assessment offences in 2007. There is no other enforcement action listed on the HSE's databases.