Ward Recycling fined £40,000 after employee crushed

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Derbyshire recycling business Ward Recycling has been fined £40,000 after an employee was injured in a machine at its depot in Ilkeston.

Thomaz Hac was working for Donald Ward Limited (trading as Ward Recycling) when the incident happened on 17 June 2009.

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He was working with a colleague to attempt to clear a blockage from a fragmentiser, which crushes and shreds scrapped cars for recycling.

They were working inside the machine, having opened a canopy to gain access, when a car, which had been trapped in the upper part of the machines, slid down and landed on top of Thomasz Hac.

He suffered severe abdominal crush injuries and broke his shoulder blade and four ribs. He returned to work at the site in September 2009, but has since left the company.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found there was no safe system of work in place and the incident could have been easily prevented.

The company pleaded guilty and was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £19,970.

HSE inspector Sarah Jardine said: “The work Mr Hac and his colleague were carrying out had not been thought through. The company should have foreseen the risks and devised a safe way of removing blockages that didn’t involve workers being put in the way of something that was likely to move. As a result of the company’s failings, a man has suffered terrible injuries.”