Ikea fined following accident investigation

Ikea Ltd admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the company was fined £100,000. It was ordered to pay costs of £6,407 to the council.

The case follows an incident on 21 November 2016 when a maintenance engineer suffered amputation of parts of two fingers while checking a fault to a fan on the roof of the building. 

An investigation by Bristol City Council found that the fan and eight others on the roof were not guarded, there was no adequate risk assessment in place for fault-finding or maintenance work of this nature, and the engineer had received no health and safety training from Ikea for this work.

During the investigation Bristol City Council’s health and safety inspectors served an Improvement Notice requiring adequate safety precautions put in place to prevent injury from fans and other machinery. These works have since been carried out. 

Senior managers from Ikea were in court and a letter from a board member was read out which expressed remorse for this incident and said that lessons taken from this case had been shared throughout their business.

Councillor Kye Dudd, Bristol City Council’s Cabinet Member for Energy, Waste and Regulatory Services, said: “The health and safety of employees should be a top priority for every employer. We take reports of breaches very seriously and where appropriate we will investigate claims of poor practice.”