CASH-strapped Worcester City Council officers were forced to scrap equipment worth thousands of pounds to comply with health and safety laws.

Strimmers, hedge-cutters and backpack blowers all failed the tests which are designed to protect staff from health problems caused by prolonged use of heavily vibrating machinery.

Officers managed to retrieve about £2,000 by selling the equipment for scrap, but the figure will not come close to the cost of replacing the machinery. Mike Harrison, the city council’s head of cleaner and greener, said the tough health and safety laws are making his job more difficult because certain pieces of equipment can only be used a set number of hours a day.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a giant problem but we will have to keep on top of this,” he said. “It’s just something else we have to cope with.

“That’s the reality of the world we live in now.” It is believed there were 18 steel strimmers sold for scrap, a third of which were less than a year old and retailed for about £450 new.

Worcester City Council officers also got rid of nine hedge-cutters and five backpack blowers – some less than six months old.

All the equipment was disposed of at The Sixways council depot earlier this month. The council’s light refuse trucks, ride-on mowers, tractors and other equipment were also tested at a cost of £5,000. Some items which failed the HAV (hand and arm vibration) tests were refitted rather than scrapped. The move came to light after your Worcester News received an anonymous letter questioning the “wanton scrapping of perfectly good stock”.

But Mr Harrison defended his actions. “The equipment wasn’t safe,” he said.

“We came up with a plan to sell the items for scrap, rather than sell, and I’m happy with the results.

“Everybody can come and say ‘you could have done it this way, or that’ but looking at the bigger picture I think I can say I’ve delivered.” Mr Harrison said the amount of money which could have been made had to be seen in the context of the £830,000 of cuts his department has been asked to make this year.

The Guildhall needs to make savings to plug its £4.3 million budget blackhole. Contractors were hired to test equipment because of the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations Act.