A joinery company in Middlesborough has been fined £10,000 after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found “multiple” health and safety breaches.
In an unannounced visit in May 2023, the regulator found Abbey Joinery and Manufacture Limited had failed to protect workers from exposure to wood dust and had failed to properly maintain its electric installations, some of which had exposed wiring.
HSE inspector Darian Dundas said: “Wood dust can cause serious health problems. It can cause asthma, which carpenters and joiners are four times more likely to get compared with other UK workers.”
Dundas also said it is “vital” that companies carry out maintenance of electrical systems to prevent accidents — such as electric shocks.
“The inspection and testing of equipment is also an essential part of any preventive maintenance programme.
Abbey Joinery and Manufacture Limited pleaded guilty at Teesside Magistrates Court to breaching Sections 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £4,428 court costs, according to the HSE.
The company, which makes timber joinery for commercial and residential projects, such as staircases, cabinetry, employs around eight people at its site by the River Tees, according to most-recent financial accounts.
