Firm fined £8k for ignoring wood dust risks

22 July 2014


A property maintenance firm has been fined for failing to meet wood dust extraction requirements at its joinery workshop in Dukinfield.

Stockport firm High Peak Remedial Services Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after it failed to comply with an enforcement notice requiring its wood dust extractor to be properly tested.

Trafford Magistrates' Court was told an HSE inspector issued an Improvement Notice during a routine visit to the workshop in July 2013, after it emerged the company had not arranged a recent test of its extraction system.

The court heard High Peak Remedial Services was given just over eight weeks to comply with the enforcement notice, but asked for an extension on the day before it expired. The firm was then given another four weeks to arrange a test but it again failed to meet the deadline.

High Peak Remedial Services was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £1,662 after being found guilty of a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to comply with an Improvement Notice.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Emily Osborne said the company put its employees' health at risk by not arranging for its wood dust extraction system to be tested.

"The latest figures show carpenters and joiners are four times more likely to get asthma compared with other workers in the UK. I'd therefore urge firms to take the risks seriously and visit www.hse.gov.uk/woodworking to find out how their employees can stay safe," she said.