Dawson Rental Portable Cold Storage fined for worker injuries 14 February 2014

Dawson Rental Portable Cold Storage has been fined £40,000 for health and safety failings after one worker was injured by falling equipment and several others developed disabling nerve and joint condition.

In the first incident, an agency worker was struck and trapped by a section of falling portable cold storage equipment at the Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire-based firm.

He broke several bones in his foot and also suffered an epileptic seizure, which kept him off work for some time afterwards.

The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) successfully argued that the firm failed to properly assess the risks involved in the dismantling process he was carrying out, staff training and supervision were inadequate, and there was no safe system of work.

A separate HSE investigation was also conducted after several employees were reported to be suffering from HAVS (hand-arm vibration syndrome).

One case was shown to be so severe that the worker was unable to do his job any longer. HSE discovered that workers were using power tools for significant periods of time.

The court was told that some limited assessment had been carried out and the risk of HAVS raised, but no remedial action was taken by the company, which had allowed the problem to continue for several years.

"In both the incident of the worker becoming trapped and the offence involving members of staff developing HAVS, we found that proper risk assessment was seriously lacking," comments HSE inspector Stuart Pilkington.

"The agency worker was lucky not to suffer far more serious injuries and the incident shows the importance of training agency workers and ensuring they are properly supervised," he continues.

"HAVS is preventable, but once the damage is done it is permanent, serious and disabling. Dawson Rental failed to protect its workers and several have suffered long-term damage as a result."

BrianTinham

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