A car component manufacturing company has been fined £183,340 and ordered to pay costs of over £21,000 after six workers suffered back injuries from repeatedly lifting heavy car engine parts by hand.
The Health and Safety Executive had received six reports of workers who had been off work for over seven days due to back injuries. One of the employees was hospitalised for over a week and could not return to work for more than nine weeks after his injury. Many other workers suffered from back pain, but because their absence from work was for less than seven days, the incidents were not required to be reported.
When the HSE investigated, they found that employees working on two of the company’s production lines were expected to manually lift engine components weighing between 14 and 21 kilograms hundreds of times during their shifts. There was no provision of mechanical lifting aids and no suitable training had been given to employees with regard to safe manual handling. In addition, no suitable risk assessment for the damage sustained by improper manual handling had been carried out.
The company; Mahle Powertain Limited, which makes engine parts for car firms such as Jaguar Landrover and Audi, admitted breaching Regulation 4(1)b of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, and was fined £183,340.
Speaking after the investigation HSE Inspector Elizabeth Hornsby said: “Companies need to recognise that manual handling is a high risk activity. It is equally important to get health issues right, as well as safety. An Office of National Statistics report on Sickness Absence in the Labour Market stated that 30.6 million days were lost in 2013 due to musculoskeletal problems. This itself should highlight the need for employers to get health issues right.”
Injuries in the work place can occur from all sorts of issues, but repetitive strain and manual handling injuries should and can be avoided most of the time. A simple risk assessment will normally shine light upon areas and actions which could potentially cause injury; either immediately or over the course of time. Employers have a duty to provide suitable, safe working conditions and practices for employees, so that they can continue to work safely throughout their careers. If you or someone you love has been injured at work, you could well be entitled to make a claim for compensation. Contact us today for a free, no obligations discussion about your case and let us see how we can help you get the pay out you deserve.