Concrete manufacturer has been fined after a worker was left with a ’gaping hole’ in his leg from an out-of-control cable

A concrete manufacturer has been fined £15,000 after a steel cable shot through a worker’s leg at the firm’s factory in Workington.

A.C.P. (Concrete) Ltd, of Workington, was prosectuted for failing to properly inspect and maintain grips used to hold tensioned cables.

On 19 March 2009 one of the grips, which was holding a 200ft cable, failed and an employee, Jamie Graham, a 25-year-old from Cockermouth, was left with a gaping hole through his shin. He was in a full-leg cast for six weeks afterwards and on crutches for another four months.

HSE Inspector Mike Griffin said: “This terrifying incident should have been prevented. The lack of any inspection or maintenance of the grips meant that problems with them were only detected when a grip failed. That could sometimes result in a cable being released with 2000lbs tension.

“The company should have ensured that the task of re-threading the cables in a partially tensioned bed was properly assessed and that significant risks to its employees were properly controlled by a safe system of work.”

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