A North-East manufacturing company has been fined more than £200,000 after a worker sustained serious burns to his hands.
Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited Novares Peterlee Limited on 30 March 2022. During the visit to the site on Northwest Industrial Estate, inspectors found unsafe working practices, including workers operating machinery at height, with risks of falling. Due to the safety failures, inspectors served eight prohibition notices against the company.
Further investigations during the visit determined that an employee had sustained serious burns to his hands on 13 October 2021, due to an incident involving an injection moulding machine. The injured worker had placed the machine in manual mode when he noticed that there were some ‘pips’ of hardened plastic material on the machine nozzles. He entered the machine, flicked the pips off, at which point molten nylon, at a temperature of approximately 260-300C, ejected from the machine and hit him. The molten nylon hit him in the hands and chest, causing significant burns.
The subsequent HSE investigation found the worker had not retracted the machine carriage to release the pressure before entering the mould area, and he was not wearing suitable PPE. They also found the company’s safe system of work which was in place at the time of the incident, did not contain adequate detail on the task and safety controls for the clearance of blockages, and the man had not received formal training on a safe system of work to remove blockages from the injection moulding machines.
Novares Peterlee Limited, Northwest Industrial Estate, Fiennes Road, Peterlee, pleaded guilty to breaching the Sections 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, Regulation 12 (1). The company was fined a total of £204,000 told to pay £6,272 in costs at Peterlee Magistrates Court on 14 February 2025.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Clare Maltby said: “This company failed to protect its workers from several risks, including working at height.
“Falls from height remain one of the leading causes of workplace injury and death in the workplace.
“Companies who operate injection moulding machines should risk assess work at height and setting, fault finding and maintenance tasks and devise and implement documented safe systems of work.”
Further information:
- The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
- More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
- Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
- Relevant guidance can be found here Work at height – HSE.
- HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so. The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences can be found here.