Safety Signs News

Metal spinning worker loses finger in factory incident

3rd March 2010 | Warning Signs

A metal spinning worker lost a finger in an accident involving machinery which his employers knew was defective, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has confirmed.

The incident occurred when the man was resetting a gear cog on September 10th 2008, but Tanfield Metal Spinners were aware that the gears had recently been slipping out of place.

As a result of the injury - which could arguably have been avoided with the use of warning signs - the Washington-based company was fined £2,000 at Sunderland Magistrates' Court and ordered to pay £1,056 in costs.

"This company put its workers at risk by expecting them to operate a defective piece of equipment," said HSE inspector Dr Dave Shallow.

"They should have ensured that a guard was in place at all times to prevent access to dangerous parts of the machine."

Dr Shallow added that the incident, which represented a breach of the Power and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, "should never have happened".

Last month, Bakkavor Foods was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,000 after one of its workers suffered a crushed hand in similarly dangerous machinery.

Posted by Ben Alexander ADNFCR-2754-ID-19648158-ADNFCR