15/04/2025
The tragedy at Grenfell Tower and the two subsequent independent reviews exposed significant failures in the construction products regulatory system and revealed institutional failures that ...
A Tameside gate manufacturer has been fined £10,000 after it ignored a formal warning about installing guards on two circular saws. The company, which is not a BWF member, was prosecuted by HSE after it continued to expose its workforce to danger by operating the saws for one month despite being ordered to take them out of use at its workshop in Droylsden.
Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard on 5th December 2014 that two inspectors had spotted the unprotected saws (one pictured left) during an unannounced visit to the site on 14 April 2014. They issued a Prohibition Notice requiring the saws not to be used until guards had been fitted. When HSE inspectors returned to the site a month later, they found the saws still in use and no attempt had been made by the firm to fit guards.
The Droylsden firm was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £729 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to comply with a Prohibition Notice.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Sarah Taylor said:
“When we first visited the factory in April, we were immediately concerned by two of the saws which were not guarded and could easily have resulted in an employee losing a finger. We therefore issued a Prohibition Notice requiring the saws to be taken out of use but the company failed to take any action until we returned to the site one month later, despite it being a legal requirement."
The safety of your workers is of prime importance. The BWF's comprehensive 91 page Guide to Health and Safety in the woodworking industry includes guidance on young persons in the workplace and with HSE recovering costs at a rate of £1000/day for inspections, during which a breach is found, BWF has prepared a number of resources to help you mitigate Health and Safety risk such as:
– A 12 point ‘Health and Safety: the essentials’ checklist to help prevent you getting caught out and advice on what HSE field inspectors are looking for in our Health and Safety publications.
– Our selection of woodworking machinery safety cards.
– Health and Safety training – including machine refresher training, Health & Safety management qualifications and more.
– As a member you can also ring our Health and Safety helpline on 0844 209 2610.
– Our Health & Safety Hero Campaign resources include short videos you can show to your staff, presentations you can adapt to your own company's health & safety processes and safety essential checklists you can give to each member of staff. There will be a new topic launched each month.
