Near miss = €200,000 fine for a factory

A near miss incident is an event that did not harm, but had the potential to cause injury or ill health. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog rarely talks about near miss reporting because in most cases these incidents do not make it into the news media. We only post incidents that occur in the news media. On our travels we have observed that plants that take the reporting and investigating of near misses seriously tend to have safer working environments. Plant management work diligently to promote an environment where near misses are reported with fear of repercussion. If workers fear that they will be punished in anyway if they report near misses, they will decide not to report. Here is a recent story about a near miss.

A metalwork casting and machining company has been fined for unsafe work practices after an employee almost fell through a fragile roof.

A court in the United Kingdom heard how an employee of the metalwork casting and machining company was working on the roof of the company workshop when he slipped and almost fell through the fragile roof.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive into the incident which occurred on in late 2014 found the company failed to provide suitable working at height equipment to carry out tasks. Employees had also not undergone specific related working at height on roof training.

The metalwork casting and machining company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and was fined over €200,000

HSE inspector said after the hearing: “This incident had the potential to cause significant, life threatening injuries to the employee who was affected.”

We are glad no one was injured in this incident. We acknowledge the seriousness of this incident and the potential for an injury or fatality to result. On our travels when we have the opportunity to talk to factory floor workers about the “incident” that either injured or killed their coworker. Almost always there were near misses that were either not investigate or not reported. The Aluminium Times Magazine had an article about near miss reporting.

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