A VEHICLE components manufacturer in Poole has been hit with a court bill of more than £17,000 after an employee suffered burns to his foot.

The Eurac Poole Limited employee was decanting molten iron from a ladle into a pouring furnace when a splash burnt through his trouser leg and fell into his boot burning his foot.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution was the second time the firm had been taken to court in recent years.

A hearing at Poole Magistrates' Court on March 16 was told that the pouring platform the man was working on in September 2018 did not have adequate edge protection either to stop him falling from the platform or to prevent molten metal splashing back on him.

An investigation by the HSE found that Eurac Poole Limited, of Mannings Heath Road, failed to provide adequate edge protection which would also have served as a splash barrier.

Eurac Poole Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.

District judge Stephen Nicholls fined the company £7,333 and ordered it to pay £10,000 costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Will Powell said: “This incident could have been avoided had the duty holder adequately assessed the risk and taken suitable and sufficient measures to control those risks.

“Eurac Poole Limited were too reliant on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and failed to apply other suitable control measures and safe working practices.”

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

As reported, in February 2019, the firm was fined £60,000 by the courts after a worker was crushed by machinery.

The employee 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 in January 2019

On that occasion the company also admitted breaching Health and Safety at Work regulations.