A engineering firm in Greater Manchester has been fined £100,000 after an employee’s arms, legs and feet were crushed when he became trapped under a large metal frame.
Richard Jones was welding a large ‘A frame’ for Oldham Engineering Limited at its factory in Oldham when the incident occurred on 27 September 2023.
The A Frame was an unusual shape and needed to be turned and rotated using a crane so that the welding could be carried out on a horizontal plane, to ensure the quality of the weld. Mr Jones had rotated the A frame and was inside the frame welding a bracket when the A Frame moved and toppled on top of him, landing on his left arm, left leg and right foot. The frame weighed approximately 1.63 tonnes.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Oldham Engineering Ltd failed to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees. The task of welding large structures that had the potential to be unstable, was not risk assessed to identify the obvious risks and no safe system of work was provided to him.
HSE guidance states that employers must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the health and safety risks employees are exposed whilst they are at work. They must also provide employees with safe systems of work and provide information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of employees. A link to a simple risk assessment process is available on the HSE website: Managing risks and risk assessment at work – Overview -HSE
Oldham Engineering Ltd of Overens Street, Oldham pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £4,519.90 in costs at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on 8 April 2025.
After the hearing HSE inspector Mike Lisle said “This life changing accident could have been avoided if Oldham Engineering had properly risk assessed the welding of large potentially unstable structures and identified suitable control measures to reduce the risk of a structure falling, for example the correct use of chocs for stability. A safe system of work or method statement then should have been put in place and communicated to the welders to ensure their safety.”
This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Matthew Reynolds and paralegal officer Rebecca Withell.
Notes to Editors
1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
4. Relevant guidance can be found here . Managing risks and risk assessment at work – Overview -HSE
5. HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so. The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences can be found here.
