A firm in Manchester which manufactures flight simulator equipment for the aviation industry has appeared in court after an investigation found it had been using unsafe machinery.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted EDM Ltd after an inspector discovered guards were missing on some of the firm’s equipment in two separate visits to the factory.
Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard how, in September 2013, a HSE inspector had first visited the site after receiving an anonymous complaint. The inspector issued two Improvement Notices to the firm which required guards to be fitted on two metalworking lathes to ensure workers’ safety.
However, on a second visit to the site in June 2014 the same inspector saw that guards were also missing on two other machines. On this occasion Prohibition Notices were served to the firm to prevent the machines from being used until the guards had been fitted.
The investigation found that the company had no system in place to ensure that the machines had been fitted with guards. In addition, workers had received no training on how to use the guards and the supervision at the factory was poor.
The court heard that the company had identified a number of missing machine guards in a health and safety document but it had failed to take any action.
EDM Ltd was fined £6,000 along with prosecution costs of £2,332 after it pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Emily Osborne said: “EDM Ltd manufactures equipment used to keep the aviation industry safe but it failed to ensure the safety of its own employees.
“The Improvement Notices HSE issued in September 2013 should have acted as a wake-up call to improve machine guards but I found guards were still missing when I revisited the factory nine months later.
“There was simply no point in the company identifying missing guards in a health and safety document if it wasn’t going to act on its findings.”