Ikea Bristol (image: ikea.com)
Ikea has been fined £100,000 after a maintenance engineer lost two fingers while checking a fault to a fan on the roof of its Bristol branch.
The company pleaded guilty on last week to one offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The incident occurred on 21 November 2016 and an investigation by Bristol City Council found that the fan and eight others on the roof were not guarded, there was no adequate risk assessment in place for fault-finding or maintenance work of this nature, and the engineer had received no health and safety training from Ikea for this work.
During the investigation Bristol City Council’s health and safety inspectors served an Improvement Notice requiring adequate safety precautions put in place to prevent injury from fans and other machinery. These works have since been carried out.
Senior managers from Ikea were in court and a letter from a board member was read out which expressed remorse for the incident and said that lessons taken from this case had been shared throughout their business.
Councillor Kye Dudd, Bristol City Council’s cabinet member for energy, waste and regulatory services, said: “The health and safety of employees should be a top priority for every employer. We take reports of breaches very seriously and where appropriate we will investigate claims of poor practice.”
