Pirelli fined €24,000 after tire machine injury

ERJ staff report (PRW)

By PRW Staff

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has successfully brought a prosecution against Pirelli after an employee at its Carlisle tire plant got trapped in a tire measuring machine, breaking his arm in three places.

Carlisle Magistrates heard that Michael Hullock, an electrician with more than four decades’ of experience, suffered a “major injury” on 3 January last year. Pirelli was fined £20,000 (€23,700) and also ordered to pay £4,331 in costs and a £120 victim surcharge after it admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The accident happened when Hullock failed to replace a safety guard after a repair. The machine then jammed and he put his arm inside the mechanism to reposition an oil reservoir. The machine restarted and Hullock’s arm was trapped.

Hullock, who had a good understanding of health and safety procedures, was not fully acquainted with the procedures for working with machinery with fixed guards.

“That’s where the company fell down,” said HSE inspector Mike Griffiths.

Rhian Gilligan, Solicitor for Pirelli, said: “This is not a case where the employer did nothing. Pirelli did a great deal but it did not do enough, which it accepts by its guilty plea.”

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Article from PRW