The incident occurred at Clearglaze Ltd's premises on 1 September 2011 when two men were attaching a hook on a pendant crane to the top of an A frame to lift two large sheets of glass. The A frame fell over, bringing the glass crashing down on top of the men. Both suffered serious lacerations from the glass as it shattered. 60-year-old Justo Llerena needed surgery on his elbow. He has been unable to return to work since. His colleague was off work for 10 weeks.
Bedford Magistrates' Court heard that an investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) established that Clearglaze had failed to protect the safety of its employees by not making sure that the A frame was secured. It only needed a bracket to the wall.
Clearglaze Ltd, Norse Road, Elms Farm Industrial Estate, Bedford, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £8,592 in costs after being found guilty of breaching Regulation 8(1) of the Lifting Operations &Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) 1998.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Karl Howes said: "This was a serious incident leading to Mr Llerena suffering painful, life-changing injuries and his colleague also being badly injured. It was also avoidable. Any work which involves the lifting of sheets of glass must be suitably planned and executed to prevent the glass falling or shattering. Clearglaze should have ensured this planning was done prior to the work being carried out.
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