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Health and safety alert after man's electric shock at work
HEALTH and safety officers are demanding that companies follow safe working practices when using mechanical equipment after a Rochdale worker received burns to his hand and arm when he was hit by a live elctrical cable.
The call follows the HSE's prosecution of Trains (Rochdale) Limited, which was fined 1,000 and ordered to pay costs of 2,000 at Trafford Magistrates Court, after being found guilty of breaching regulations.
In August 2007 an employee was operating a mechanical breaker, in Nuttall Street, Rochdale, trying to install a post and rail fence around a car park owned by Trains (Rochdale) Limited, on the site of a row of demolished terrace houses. While breaking up the concrete, he hit a buried live electrical cable, burning his left hand and arm.
HSE inspector Rosemary Leese-Weller said: "This incident was easily avoidable. The employer had failed to provide plans of underground electrical cables and did not carry out scans of the area to locate any buried services.
"If the company had simply provided the plans, undertaken the scans and located the cable, digging in the area could have been avoided and this incident would never have occurred."
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Weather for Clitheroe
Wednesday 30 May 2012
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