Manufacturer sentenced after sawmill accident

A large wood manufacturer in Shropshire has been fined £160k after an employee sustained life-changing injuries when working at their Ellesmere premises.

Robert Stubbs, 37, sustained life-changing injuries when clearing a jammed log on a machine in May 2021. Mr Stubbs climbed onto a stationary conveyor bed and used a metal pole to move a log. The conveyor started to move unexpectedly, dragging his legs across the moving chains and trapping them against a stop plate. Subsequently Mr Stubbs had his right leg amputated below the knee and sustained significant injuries to his left leg.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that E.T.C. Sawmills Limited failed to adequately assess the risks and devise and implement effective measures to prevent access to the dangerous moving parts of the Quad Saw machine or to stop the movement of the dangerous parts before people entered the danger zones. Additionally, the company failed to provide employees with safe systems of work or suitable and sufficient information, instruction, training and supervision to enable safe operation of the machine.

Although standards of health and safety are much improved over recent years, sawmilling remains a high-risk industry with a major injury rate that is over two and a half times that of general manufacturing.

HSE Inspector Keeley Eves said: “E.T.C Sawmills is one of the largest manufacturers of softwoods for the fencing and pallet industries in England.

“The life-changing injuries sustained by Mr Stubbs could easily have been prevented if the company had acted to identify and manage the risks involved, put a safe system of work in place and ensured that employees were appropriately trained and supervised.”

Note: Many businesses within the furniture sector have powered material transfer systems. Access controls and SSOW’s must consider how blockages are dealt with and how areas are safely accessed without risk of systems restarting whilst persons are in areas of risk.

HSE: Information about health and safety at work