A crushing machine which gave a recycling centre worker a serious electric shock had been subject to “unauthorised maintenance”, Aberdeenshire Council has said – amid claims by the victim of the accident that other employees could be in danger.
Mick Swarbreck, 54, had to be taken to his local GP after the incident involving the Rotacrush device and needed to take three days off work to fully recover.
The machine at the Redcloak Waste and Recycling Centre on Stonehaven’s Slug Road site was taken out of action and similar machines at two other council sites inspected “as a precaution”.
Health and Safety Executive officials said they had “been made aware of the incident” and were liaising with council officers.
Mr Swarbreck said he said he was routinely greasing the machine when he received the shock and has now questioned the safety of the machine with his supervisors.
“Someone is going to get killed,” he said.
“They clearly aren’t being maintained properly.”
Recalling the moment itself, he said: “I just remember the loud bang and feeling like I’d had a massive adrenalin rush.
“I don’t have any burn marks or anything, but it did shake me up a fair bit. One of the other guys said he heard a really loud cracking noise and he came to see if I was alright. He took me to the doctors for a check-up.”
A council spokesman confirmed that “staff have been carrying out unauthorised maintenance on the machine” but said that it was “not thought to be the cause of the incident”.
“Appropriate action is being taken to make sure this practice does not continue,” he added.
“Investigations into the incident and what caused it continue, however it seems to have been a static shock, rather than faulty machinery.
“As a precaution the piece of machinery involved and others like it at other locations have been temporarily put out of service. Any member of staff with concerns about safe working practice is encouraged to speak to their line manager immediately.”