Truro Sawmills Ltd, based at Penhallow near the A3075 Newquay road, has been fined for failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of its employees. The company pleaded guilty to that charge and to three counts of contravening a requirement imposed by an improvement notice. Its director Alistair Wright also pleaded guilty to contravening a requirement imposed by an improvement notice.
The company supplies timber and manufactures gates, fencing panels and garden furniture at its sawmill in Penhallow, Truro. HSE inspectors issued improvement notices after finding that workers were not protected from the health risks of wood dust, which can cause asthma, respiratory conditions and cancer, or from the safety risks of rider-operated lift trucks. Staff had not been properly trained to use the lift trucks, had not been face fit tested for respiratory protective equipment, and were not under suitable health surveillance.
The HSE investigation found that Truro Sawmills Limited had failed to comply with its legal duty under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and had contravened the requirements of three improvement notices served by HSE. HSE also applied for Wright to be disqualified from acting as a company director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.
In 2017, HSE officers visited the family run business and ordered improvements over the fitting of dust masks. In December 2021, Truro Sawmill Ltd was visited again and found to be in breach of those 2017 orders. It was also found to have put employees in danger by failing to prevent access to dangerous parts of a cross cut saw. The company pleaded guilty then to two charges of breaching health and safety regulations and was fined £40,000 with costs of £15,594.
At a sentencing hearing at Truro Crown Court on August 20, the court heard that HSE gave Wright, 40, "chance after chance" to comply but he did not. His Honour Judge Simon Carr said the improvement notices from HSE are "there for a reason" and that after 2017 and 2021 "prosecution was inevitable when they were not complied to." Judge Carr said Wright, the sole director of the now insolvent company, had shown "flagrant disregard for the law" and "knew what he had to do but didn't."
In his defence, Wright said he was having financial and personal difficulties at the time and both he and his wife had health concerns. He said that on the day HSE officers visited him he "was having a bad day and was under a lot of stress and didn't handle the visit from HSE very well." He believed he had carried out all the improvements required of him "to the best of my ability" and added: "After 40 years it's not how I wanted my business to end."
Judge Carr noted Wright's age, the stress of a divorce, and that his business was now insolvent. He imposed a £20,000 fine on Truro Sawmill Lt and £5,000 in cost, and a £5,000 fine on Wright with £2,500 costs, which he has 12 months to pay or face prison. Judge Carr also disqualified Wright from any company directorship for five years.
Cornish Sawmill Boss Fined and Banned Over Safety Failures