Member Article

York Poundworld fined £19k for breach of health and safety

The York branch of Poundworld has been fined over £19k for breaches of health and safety after being successfully prosecuted.

An investigation carried out by City of York Council, in response to an accident where an employee tripped over and broke their hip found serious health and safety breaches.

A hearing took place today at York Magistrates’ Court and Poundworld were fined a total of £19,000, a surcharge of £120, plus the council’s full costs of £1,823.22 for the various offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

These included damaged flooring which presented a risk of tripping and trailing polystyrene wrapping used on pallets, which caused the member of staff to fall and break their hip.

Due to conditions found, City of York Council served a Heath and Safety Improvement Notice on Poundworld to fix the damaged floor in 2013, but they failed to comply with the notice in time.

When City of York Council went back to investigate the same issue, loose polythene wrapping was found again, which had caused the initial accident.

The company had known about the problems with the floors and the housekeeping issues since at least December 2012, but did not rectify the issues.

Cllr Tracey Simpson-Laing, said: “This was a serious case of health and safety breaches and it is disappointing that even after a member of staff suffered a broken hip the company did not make immediate improvements.

“There are reasons why these laws exist and why they should be adhered to. It was only after City of York Council officers took action that Poundworld eventually rectified the issues.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .