Firm fined over danger electrics

An Oldham company has been fined £10,000 after ignoring two formal HSE warnings, putting its workers’ lives in danger from poorly maintained and dangerous electrics.

Townfield Manufacturing Co Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive 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 December 15, 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 at Mount Pleasant Street, was served with two improvement notices, requiring it to make the electrics safe and provide a reasonable working temperature.

But when HSE inspectors revisited the site two months later, 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.

The company was found guilty of two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act, by failing to comply with the improvement notices.

It was ordered to pay £3,979 towards the costs of the prosecution in addition to the fine following a trial at Trafford Magistrates’ Court yesterday, after failing to attend the hearing or enter a plea.

Speaking after the hearing, the investigating HSE inspector, Sarah Taylor, said: “This is one of the worst cases of dangerous electrics I have ever seen. The employees at this firm were at serious risk of injury or even death.”