Wrexham Council fined £150,000 over hand-arm vibration syndrome failings

Wrexham Council have been fined £150,000 and are paying £10,900 costs to the Health and Safety Executive after staff using machinery were affected by hand-arm vibration syndrome, despite polices in place aimed to prevent it.

In a statement sent to us today from Wrexham Council, Dr Helen Paterson, the current Chief Executive of the council, commented: “Wrexham County Borough Council fully accepts the findings of the court.

“We sympathise with the individuals affected, and regret the circumstances which led to their exposure to developing hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).

“Since this issue came to the attention of the council, we have worked with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to resolve the matter, and have implemented their recommendations.

“The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has already indicated its willingness to work with us again in the coming months and years to ensure that our continuing HAVS action plan is implemented as part of our longer-term health and safety strategy.”

The Daily Post has a full court report here, which notes “The judge said it was a significant failure which ran from 2011 to 2016.”

Cllr Mark Pritchard, the Leader of Wrexham Council, said: “This matter predates this administration by several years but that does not mean that we are not taking it extremely seriously.

“Since this matter came to light we have reviewed our Health and Safety practices and have learned lessons and I would like to thank all staff for their hard work in addressing this unfortunate matter.”

“The health and well-being of our staff remains a priority and we will continue to maintain our current high standards through good practice and procedures. We are proud of our Welsh Government Gold Corporate Health Standard status and we are working hard towards the Platinum standard.”

As of yet there is no comment from the Health and Safety Executive.

We are told the fine will be paid from the Council’s Corporate and Central Budget.

You can read a full report from court on the Daily Post here