A RUNCORN company has been ordered to pay £30,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to health and safety breaches which left two staff seriously injured. TJ Morris, trading as Home Bargains at Halton Lea, allowed two employees to become seriously injured while they tried to hand-wind a stuck goods lift. The employees climbed a ladder and entered the motor room above the lift shaft at 7.20am on January 4, 2005, but a panel they were standing on gave way. The employees fell down the lift shaft and suffered serious injuries. The galvanised steel panel was designed to stop products falling down the shaft. One employee fell 12ft and suffered whiplash injuries to her neck, back and arm. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The other fell 30ft and suffered lower leg injuries - her left leg was partially severed, dislocated and fractured at the ankle joint. The full extent of the injuries will be not be known for 12 months but could result in lifelong disability. The court heard the motor area entered by the women had a sign on the door stating in red block capitals: 'Danger lift machinery. Danger lift machine access. Forbidden to all unauthorised persons. Switch off power supply before entering the machine room.' The court heard the company had failed to adequately restrict access to the motor area, with the exception of the authorised and trained employees of contract lift engineer, Classic Lift. It had also allowed branch-level management to develop, and continue for several years an unsafe system of work in relation to employees dealing with intermittent lift breakdowns. It had failed to monitor the way instructions for lift breakdowns were followed by employees, despite it being brought to the management's attention that the procedure was not being followed. The prosecution was brought under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 costs. | 
Article
