The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has fined a construction company after an engineer lost an arm in an accident at a water treatment plant in Huddersfield.

In March 2008, the principal contractor Morgan Est plc of Corporation Street, Rugby in Warwickshire was engaged to carry out refurbishment at a Huddersfield waste water treatment works.

A new sludge treatment plant had been installed at the works by the firm and was in the process of being commissioned when the accident occurred.

The HSE investigation found that the engineer’s right arm came into contact with a rotating screw conveyor on a newly-installed piece of equipment at Neiley Waste Water Treatment Works situated at New Mill Road in Holmfirth.

The investigators discovered that a fixed guard on a screw conveyor had been removed to allow clearance of a blockage of sludge in the conveyor. Blockages were found to have occurred on previous occasions, but the machine had always been isolated prior to any work being carried out.

Morgan Est plc accepted that it had failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for clearing blockages within the sludge plant during commissioning works; and also accepted that access to the rotating screw arose because the plant had not been isolated prior to removal of the guard.

On Tuesday (30/03/10) at Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court, Morgan Est plc pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The company was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,163.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Dave Stewart said that Morgan Est plc ‘should have ensured the commissioning of the new equipment was thoroughly risk assessed’.

‘Blockages had occurred previously on this piece of plant – and a clear and concise method for dealing with the blockages should have been established and communicated to workers on the site. 

‘Commissioning of plant can often present extreme hazards – hence the need for thorough planning and control of such work by employers,’ Mr Stewart added.

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