Royal Mail Fined £44,000 After CWU Fleet Maintenance Member Suffers
Serious Chemical Burn Injuries

Dave Joyce, CWU's National Health and Safety Officer, who is still recovering from injuries sustained in a road traffic accident last August; reports on a nasty work related accident involving chemical burns:

Royal Mail have been Fined £44,000 at Watford Magistrates Court for Health and Safety breaches after a Leaking Chemical Severely Burned a CWU member's leg.

The member works for Royal Mail's Fleet Maintenance division and was spraying the heavy goods vehicle's underbody with a powerful caustic detergent prior to steam cleaning. The member had been sent to a contract cleaning facility where he was given faulty equipment to use which allowed the Chemical to sray over him from a leaking pressure pipe.

He had also not been provided with any Personal Protective Equipment and was  working outside in the rain. 

The member who is based at the Home Counties North, Hemel Hempstead, Mail Centre Office suffered severe chemical burns from the cleaning agent and had to be rushed to Hospital.

Royal Mail pleaded guilty to two offences under S2(1) of the health and safety at work act 1974 and Regulation 6(1) of The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.

The Judge handed down fines of  40,000 ( 20,000 per offence, the maximum the Magistrate could order) plus costs of  4,000.

Local Authority Environmental Health Officers investigating the incidents found that Royal Mail had quickly put new vehicle cleaning arrangements in place after closing the former Watford Vehicle Maintenance Workshop which had purpose built facilities.

However there had been little thought given to cleaning arrangements when the Watford facility closed. Royal Mail had not safety inspected the contractors site and the equipment provided and had not carried out risk assessments or established any Safe Systems of Work.

A cleaning chemical dispensing pump was defective, leading to a powerful concentrated cleaning liquid spilling onto a worker's leg, causing severe chemical burns.

The victim was immediately hospitalised and subsequently required skin grafts. He required eight months off work to recover.
 
CWU National Health and Safety Officer Dave Joyce said:

"It is important that all employers take Health And Safety seriously and ensure that risks in the workplace are effectively controlled. Royal Mail were prosecuted because of the serious nature of the injuries to our member.

This is damning example of what can happen when managers fail to manage and monitor the health and safety of the workforce through careful attention to law and the Companies own health and safety standards and rules. It's important to be proactive about health and safety and that didn't happen in this case. All accidents can be avoided if the risks are properly assessed and managed.

In this case there was a failure to comply with the Companies general duty to provide a safe place and safe system of work and when members are likely to come into contact with chemicals such as powerful cleaning detergents, careful assessment and management of those chemicals are required to protect employees and to comply with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. However Royal Mail accepted their responsibility and the fact that they failed in their duty of care to our members and has worked with our Safety Reps to changed its procedures and now operates a safer vehicle cleaning operation at the Office concerned."

NOTES:

* Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc 1974. General duties of employers to their employees. 2(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.

* Regulation 6(1) of The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. Assessment of the risk to health created by work involving substances hazardous to health 6(1) An employer shall not carry out work which is liable to expose any employees to any substance hazardous to health unless he has  (a)made a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk created by that work to the health of those employees and of the steps that need to be taken to meet the requirements of these Regulations; and (b)implemented the steps referred to in sub-paragraph (a).

* The Union's Lawyers Edwards Duthie are pursuing a personal injury claim for damages on the member's behalf.

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