A POOLE manufacturing firm has been fined £60,000 after a worker was crushed by machinery.

Darren Rose, 37, an employee of Eurac Poole Limited, suffered a double break to his left arm and internal stomach injuries while helping a colleague release a scrapped casting from a vibro-charger machine.

Eurac Poole Limited, of Mannings Heath Road, pleaded guilty to breaching Heath and Safety at Work regulations.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and brought the prosecution, which was heard at Poole Magistrates' Court.

The court heard that on January 9 2017, Mr Rose was injured by the heavy machine.

This piece of equipment was used to sort scrap before charging a furnace at the company site.

Mr Rose was operating an electromagnet which became stuck or wedged in the vibro-charger as he tried to free the casting. In trying to free the magnet, the vibro-charger was lifted off its running rails. It swung towards Rose and struck him, crushing him against a metal guard rail by one of the furnaces.

The HSE probe revealed the jamming of vibro-chargers was foreseeable, and operatives had evolved their own approaches to dealing with the jams.

The jamming problem had never been fully identified by management as an issue, says HSE, and so no specific risk assessment or procedure had been carried out.

Speaking after the court hearing, HSE inspector Ian Smart said: "These injuries could easily have been prevented.

"It is entirely foreseeable that jams and blockages will occur in production machinery. The risk should have been identified at a management level.

"Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective safe systems of work to deal with jams and blockages."

Eurac Poole Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2642:30.