Unite ‘appalled’ at accident involving 16 year old at East
Lancashire Box Company
UNITE NEWS RELEASE UNITE
NEWS RELEASE UNITE NEWS RELEASE
For immediate issue, Thursday 5th February 2009
Unite ‘appalled’ at accident involving 16 year old at East
Lancashire Box Company
Unite, the UK’s biggest print and packaging union,
is dismayed at the derisory £12,000 fine issued by Hyndburn
Magistrates Court to the East Lancashire Box Company for failing to
ensure the health, safety and welfare of a 16 year old who crushed
his fingers on a printing machine he was asked to clean.
The 16 year old was employed as a factory worker with the specific
task of folding and breaking out cardboard boxes, once completing
these tasks he was then asked to help with the machine
cleaning.
Tony Burke, Unite Assistant General Secretary, said:
“This is a disgraceful situation. The HSE report says
there were no risk assessments or safe operating procedures at the
company. They have broken legislation in employing a sixteen year
old in an industrial undertaking and he appears to have been left
unsupervised on dangerous machinery.
“The fine and costs awarded are
nonsense. Company’s who ignore health and safety procedures should
face much stiffer penalties. As for employing a sixteen year old in
an industrial undertaking, this is appalling. Companies who break
laws in this way should face much heavier penalties than a £12,000
fine.”
ENDS
For further information contact Mark
Di-Toro in the Unite press office on 0207 420 8938 or 07918 640
579
Notes:
1. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at
work etc Act 1974 says:
"It shall be the duty of every employer to
ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and
welfare at work of all his employees."
2. Regulation 3 (1)(a)Management of Health and Safety at Work
Regulations 1999 says
"Every employer shall make a suitable and
sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of his
employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at
work"
3. Section 1 of the Employment pf Women, Young
Persons and Children Act 1920 says:
"No child shall be employed in any industrial
undertaking."
HSE information and news releases can be
accessed at www.hse.gov.uk
Related Documents:
GPM Sector ADVICE NOTE – 6th Feb 2009
HSE demands firms
take safety seriously after teenager injured
