Unite ‘appalled’ at accident involving 16 year old at East
Lancashire box company
5 February 2009
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 http://www.hse.gov.uk
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