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A wood panel manufacturer has been fined £400,000 after an employee lost his leg because of an incident at their factory in Chirk, Wrexham.
Mark Hughes (53) was an employee of Kronospan Limited. On 31 March 2021, he was loading a flatbed trailer with waste MDF sheets, intended to be transported across site and destroyed. When he began to remove the straps holding the sheets in place, a pack of MDF sheets weighing around 350kg fell from the trailer. The sheets landed on Mr Hughes’ left leg.
The extent of Mr Hughes’ injuries meant his leg had to be amputated below the knee. Losing his leg has been life-changing. He can no longer carry on with hobbies, struggles to climbs stairs, and has had to move to an accessible house.
In a victim statement, Mr Hughes said:
“My injury has changed everything in my life, it is like somebody dropped a bomb on our life and never picked up the pieces.” “Everything now just takes a lot of planning to do and spontaneous trips do not happen anymore. “I won’t go anywhere that has a lot of steps.”
After more than two years off work, Mr Hughes has been able to return to the company, but only in a part-time capacity.
“Some days I feel okay but some days after work I feel absolutely knackered. “I’ve worked for Kronospan for 27 years and I feel since my accident it would be difficult to find a job somewhere else and start over,”
When the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated, they found that the road across the Chirk site was poorly maintained and had lots of potholes.
Kronospan had no suitable risk assessment or system of work in place that specifically relating to the risks of stacking, movement and loading of waste MDF sheets.
Kronospan Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. They were fined £400,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,701 at Wrexham Magistrates Court on 19 November 2024.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Marie Wheeler said:
“A man has suffered truly life-changing injuries as a result of this company’s failures.
“The incident was completely preventable had a proper risk assessment been carried out.
“Nor did the company have a suitable safe system of work in place.
“HSE will always take action when basic failures like these result in very serious injury.”
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