Risk, Health and Safety Information

Brewer fined for ignoring safety warning

A microbrewery has been sentenced for failing to take sufficient action to prevent unsafe work at height and improve manual handling at its Marsh Gibbon production plant.

Oxfordshire Ales Limited was warned in May 2010 that it needed to improve after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) served an Improvement Notice requiring action to protect workers transferring materials from racking to processing machinery.

A visiting HSE inspector raised concerns about manual handling operations, principally the filling of hoppers with malt and barley, which involved employees lifting heavy sacks weighing up to 25kg in awkward circumstances. The notice required the company to carry out a thorough assessment of the handling risks and to take appropriate action.

Aylesbury Magistrates' Court heard today (1 October) that HSE revisited the brewery on 8 November 2010 and again on 3 February 2011, but on both occasions little had changed.
Further concerns were also identified with a mezzanine floor that was accessible via inadequate steps. A second Improvement Notice was served in March 2011 to trigger action on this failing before improvements were belatedly made.

Oxfordshire Ales Limited, of Peartree Industrial Units, Bichester Road, Marsh Gibbon, was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £8,623 in costs for breaching Section 21 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company pleaded guilty to the offences at an earlier hearing.

Afterwards HSE Inspector Stephen Manley said:

"The response of Oxfordshire Ales to the original Improvement Notice was disappointing to say the least. The improvements were necessary in order to protect workers from injury and prevent falls, yet the company took far too long to take appropriate action.

"Thankfully no employees were hurt, but there were clear risks that could easily have been remedied a lot sooner."