Kronospan fined £400,000 for worker’s leg loss

Wood panel manufacturer Kronospan has been fined £400,000 after a worker suffered life-changing injuries at its factory in Chirk, near Wrexham.

In March 2021 a pack of waste MDF sheets weighing around 350kg fell from a trailer and landed on the left leg of Mark Hughes. The injuries were so serious they resulted in Hughes having his leg amputated below the knee. He has since had to move to an accessible house., is no longer able to carry on with his hobbies and struggles to climb stairs.

The packs of MDF sheets weighed approximately 350kgs.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that a colleague of Hughes had loaded a flatbed trailer with waste MDF sheets for him to transport across the site to be destroyed. When he began to take off the straps holding the sheets in place, a pack fell off the trailer and landed on top of him. The road across the site was poorly maintained and had lots of potholes.

The investigation also found that there was no suitable risk assessment or system of work in place specifically relating to the risks associated with the stacking, movement and loading of waste MDF sheets.

Kronospan Limited of Chirk, Wrexham pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. They were fined £400,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,701 at Wrexham Magistrates Court on 19 November 2024.

After more than two years off work, Hughes has been able to return to the company, but only in a part-time capacity.

He says: “My injury has changed everything in my life, it is like somebody dropped a bomb on our life and never picked up the pieces. Everything now just takes a lot of planning to do and spontaneous trips do not happen anymore. I won’t go anywhere that has a lot of steps.”