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‘Filthy’ dental lab fined for ignoring health risks
3rd Sep 2009
Dental lab was a health hazard
A dental laboratory was ordered to pay £4,000 for ignoring a health and safety notice slapped on it for its ‘filthy' premises that put workers at risk.
Manchester-based Rossford Dental Laboratory was served with an Improvement Notice in March 2008 after an Health and Safety inspector visited the site and found it to be ‘extremely unclean, putting the health of workers at risk'.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, by failing to comply with the Improvement Notice within the two-month agreed deadline.
The Dental Laboratory, in Swinton. Manchester, specialises in manufacturing dentures, gum shields and other dental products and was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay costs of £1,500 at Trafford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday 26 August.
HSE Inspector Matt Greenly said: ‘When I visited the site last year, I was surprised by the filthy state it was in and had no choice but to issue an Improvement Notice. It was especially disappointing as Rossford had previously received a similar Improvement Notice and had complied with it.
‘I therefore expected the company to be well aware of the basic need to keep the site clean. But there were layers of debris everywhere, the sinks were blocked and waste materials had been allowed to build up throughout the premises.
‘I agreed with the company's owners that two months would be a reasonable period for the improvements to be made, but when I went back at the end of May the laboratory was in a similar state.
‘Improvement Notices should act as a wake-up call for companies to improve their health and safety procedures, for their own and their employees' benefit. Unfortunately, in this case, Rossford appears to have ignored the warning and carried on as normal.'
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