JLR worker suffers 'horrific' injuries

Company fined £54,000 after employee is crushed on line at Solihull site

Jaguar Land Rover has been fined £54,000 after an employee was crushed in machinery at its Solihull site last year.

The maintenance electrician, who wishes to remain anonymous, was investigating vehicle body lifting equipment that was frequently stopping near a gap in the perimeter guarding within the paint shop at Jagaur Land Rover's (JLR) Lode Lane site.

As he watched the machinery, he was hit by an empty vehicle carrier on a circulatory chain conveyor that travelled through the gap. He was knocked to the ground and forcibly dragged through the gap into the restricted processing area, where he was severely crushed.

The 57-year-old man punctured both lungs and broke ten ribs, his breastbone, two bones in his spine, two in his right hand and developed blood clots on his heart and kidneys. He was placed in an induced coma in intensive care for 12 days and remained in hospital for seven days and did not return to work for 17 weeks.

Passing sentence, Judge Carr said JLR “fell far short of a safe and reasonable standard". He said: “This was an entirely reasonable, foreseeable situation. The breach was an ongoing failure and an accident waiting to happen.

A Health and Safety Executive enforcement has required that further protective measures be placed at the gap and the area is now enclosed with guarding and a key exchange system has also been introduced.

HSE inspector John Glynn said: “Jaguar Land Rover has extensive safety systems in place and the Lode Lane plant had other facilities with similar processes guarded much more effectively. The company should have ensured the same level of protection at this location. It didn't and as a result a man suffered horrific injuries. The incident could have very easily ended his life.