Corus fined £5,000 for worker injury

Steel company Corus UK has been fined £5,000 after a worker was injured while clearing a jam in the production line at a factory in East Cleveland.

The company, which was trading as Corus Special Profiles, was also ordered to pay costs of £5,000 at Teesside Magistrates' Court. The company pleaded guilty of breaching regulations of both the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

The fine followed an incident in May 2008, when 41-year-old David Harrison, a team leader at the Skinningrove factory, was struck by moving machinery, severely injuring his right leg, which still requires medical treatment.

He had been attempting to clear a jam in a machine, which requires an operator activating controls above the mill floor.

But the operator was unable to see Harrison, and instructions were relayed via a third man using a combination of hand signals and shouting. Mr Harrison

After the case, HSE inspector Bruno Porter explained: “Our investigations found that relaying instructions through another person was common practice on the mill floor, as radios were not always available and the noise in the factory made them hard to use.

“While Corus was aware of the hazards and had implemented safe operating procedures to deal with some of the risks, it failed to install a full safe isolation system, which had been identified as necessary prior to the incident.”