Dyson fined £1.2m after milling machine fell on worker

The man was injured in the incident at Dyson's headquarters in Malmesbury

Dyson has been fined over a million pounds after an employee was injured when a milling machine fell on him.

The technology company has been ordered to pay £1.2m after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety laws.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector, James Hole, said the incident "could have been fatal".

Dyson said it was "thankful" that the employee was "not more seriously hurt" in the incident at its factory in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.

Swindon Magistrates' Court heard that the worker had been moving a 1.5 tonne milling machine along with a colleague when the incident occurred in August 2019.

Head and chest injuries

They lifted it up with a five-tonne jack, and were replacing some wheels with wooden blocks when it fell.

It struck the man and his head and chest were injured, the HSE said.

Its investigators found that Dyson had not provided "suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training" to its staff.

The man escaped being crushed only because the machine landed on two toolboxes and the handle of another machine.

'Could have been prevented'

"Those in control of work have a duty to assess the risks, devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workforce," said Mr Hole.

"Had a suitable safe system of work been in place this incident and the related injuries could have been prevented," he added.

Dyson said that health and safety is its "number one priority" and confirmed that the man had now returned to work.

"As an engineering company, we use complex and often heavy equipment and take care to do so safely.

"We deeply regret that this happened and we accept the court's decision today," it said in a statement.

Dyson added they had no previous convictions or enforcement history related to health and safety at work and that the court noted their "excellent safety record".

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