The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has successfully prosecuted a firm in County Durham, after a 59-year-old employee injured his hand when it became trapped while he was cleaning a glue rolling machine.
The worker was trying to clean the rollers of the machine at Elite Composite Products Ltd in Trimdon. An HSE investigation following the incident found that the employee sustained serious injuries to his hand because the safety guard on the machine was broken at the time of the incident on 3 September 2012.
The unnamed worker lifted a hinged guard to access the rollers on the machine. As he began to clean the rollers, moving parts drew his right hand into the rollers, stripping skin from his hand. The worker also sustained injury to the carpal tunnel in his wrist, as well as muscle damage to his thumb.
He was treated in hospital for his injuries and discharged after four days, but required further medical treatment and physiotherapy for five months following the incident.
The employee was only able to return to work gradually following seven months of sick leave.
On Tuesday (06/05/14) at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court in County Durham, Elite Composite Products Ltd of Trimdon Grange Industrial Estate in Trimdon pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety Act states:
“It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.”
The company was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £3,188.50 in costs.
After the hearing, HSE Inspector Cain Mitchell said that the incident could easily have been prevented if Elite Composite Products Ltd had systems in place “to identify faults on the machinery and its safety systems”.
Mr Mitchell added:
“Had this been the case, the broken safety device would have been spotted and the company could have repaired it to ensure workers did not come into contact with dangerous moving machine parts.
“Instead, the firm’s failures mean a worker has suffered severe, life changing injuries.”
The court heard that the guard which covered the machine’s rollers was connected to an interlocking safety device designed to stop the rollers from turning over when the guard was raised. It was this guard which was broken, with the result that the rollers failed to stop turning.
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