Company fined after worker left with serious burns

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A COMPANY has been fined £6,000 after one of its factory workers in Worcester suffered serious burns, which left him unable to work for two months.

Asim Qureshi, 41, was operating a die cast machine at JVM Castings Ltd's factory on Droitwich Road when molten metal sprayed from the back of the machine.

Worcester Magistrates’ Court heard on Thursday, January 19 how the 650 degrees celsius molten material burned through Mr Qureshi’s clothing after landing on him on July 27, 2010.

He suffered serious burns to his right arm, shoulder, leg and face and was unable to work for two months. He has also been left with scarring on his hand and leg and is still receiving treatment for his burnt skin.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the rear of the machine was unguarded and the operators' overalls and eye protection were unsuitable for the amount of molten metal spray.

The court heard there had been three similar previous incidents of molten aluminium blow backs at the factory, one of which caused serious injuries to another employee seven months before Mr Qureshi was burnt.

The company pleaded guilty at the court hearing to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and were fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £4,000 costs.

Speaking after the hearing, Tariq Khan, who is a HSE inspector, said: "Despite three previous incidents, one of which caused serious injuries to another worker, JVM Castings failed to learn from them and did not follow the recommendations of its own investigation.

"Although blow backs of molten aluminium are potentially foreseeable they are unpredictable events.

"The company's risk assessment had identified blow backs as a danger but did not include any measures to remove or reduce the risk."

"And as a result of the company's failings, a man has suffered serious injuries which could easily have been avoided."

Rob Murcott, who is managing director at the Staffordshire-based company, said: "JVM Castings take the health and safety of our employees very seriously and we continue to invest both money and time in making improvements to the factory that we purchased out of administration in 2006.

"We are of course very sorry that one of our employees was burned by molten metal and we have taken all possible steps to ensure that such an accident cannot be repeated. The injured party returned to work as soon as he had recovered and continues to be employed at the factory to this day.”