A North Wales dairy has been fined £200K following an accident leaving a worker with severe burns to 27% of his body, requiring a 4-week hospital stay.The employee was modifying some pipework on Tomlinson's Minera plant when a pneumatic valve opened, covering him in hot caustic liquid and steam, causing serious burns. The HSE found the company had failed to ensure the safe isolation of plant and pipework before work commenced. The court heard the company relied on informal risk control systems and arrangements which were no longer sufficient for a business of its size; Tomlinson's is the largest milk processing business in Wales with a turnover of about £45m a year.
HSE inspector Gary Martin said: "Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of work and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers on the safe system of working."
SG World's LoTo lock-out, tag-out solution is designed to gives workers a practical working process and a robust series of fail-safes at every stage of the job. LoTo includes a lock, a tag which contains important information about the Lock-Out and an additional isolation certificate with a built-in check list to ensure the equipment has no residual energy supply and is made safe prior to power being re-connected. We also supply some magnetic warning signs to highlight the lock-out status for large equipment where the power switch isn't clearly visible.