April 28, 2025 | Susan Napier-Sewell

Company Escapes With Fines, Breach Seriously Injures Employees

fines

A UK company, West Fraser (Europe) Ltd, escapes tougher penalties, charged with fines over £1m for two employees sustaining serious injuries.

West Fraser—the company owing the fines, formerly Norbord—admitted to numerous breaches of health and safety at the UK company plant in Scotland. BBC reports that “One worker suffered serious injuries after his leg was caught in moving parts in a storage bunker, while another fell more than 13 ft. after a rusty plate gave way on a rooftop gantry.”

In a separate accident, the same UK company was ordered in 2022 to pay £2,125,000 for the fatal burns of an employee at the plant under investigation near Stirling, in Cowrie village.

According to BBC, “Sheriff Keith O’Mahony said that in the case of the auger incident, the victim, for reasons unknown, had departed from safety procedures the company had operated successfully for years.

He said: “What I have to assess is not what the injured party did, but rather what he was able to do as a result of the health and safety deficiency.”

Source content credit: BBC, “Firm fined £1m after two workers hurt in six months,” February 17, 2025.

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