An Oldham company has been fined £10,000 for putting its workers’ lives in danger from poorly maintained and dangerous electrics.
Townfield Manufacturing Co Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after inspectors uncovered a series of cracked socket casings, exposed conductors and live wires on a visit to its premises in Mount Pleasant Street.
During the same visit on 15 December 2009, inspectors also found that staff at the company were forced to work in gloves and coats because of the near-freezing conditions in the workshop, which had no heating system.
Townfield, which manufactures kitchen equipment for takeaway restaurants, was served with two improvement notices, requiring it to make the electrics safe and provide a reasonable working temperature.
When HSE inspectors revisited the site on 17 February 2010, they found that the wall sockets were still unsafe and the company had only provided workers with one stand alone heater, which had barely lifted the temperature.
Townfield Manufacturing Ltd was found guilty of two breaches of Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, by failing to comply with the improvement notices which had been issued.
The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £3,979 towards the costs of the prosecution following a trial at Trafford Magistrates’ Court in Sale on 5 May 2011, after failing to attend the hearing or enter a plea.
Source: Health & Safety Executive
