Plastics firm fined after Liverpool worker loses four fingers

Date:

11 January 2010

Release No:

HSE/NW/046Centriforce/09

A plastics-recycling company in Liverpool has been fined £2,500 after a worker had four fingers cut off by a guillotine.

The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted Centriforce Products Ltd following the incident at the company's premises on Derby Road near the city's docks on 26 May 2008.

The court heard that Wesley Dickinson, 22 from Walton, had been trying to remove a jam in the guillotine when his fingers became trapped. Doctors were able to reattach two of his four fingers and he now has very limited movement in his right hand.

Wesley Dickinson shows the damage to his hand

Centriforce pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on Friday 8 January. The company was ordered to pay £2,438 towards the cost of the prosecution in addition to the fine.

HSE Inspector Martin Paren said:

"This incident has had a devastating impact on Mr Dickinson, who is only in his early 20s. He cannot return to his old job and will not be able to do manual work in the foreseeable future, due to the limited strength and movement in his right hand.

"The company should have had a guard on the guillotine to prevent workers from reaching the blade. An automatic mechanism should also have been in place so that the power was cut if the guard was opened.

"Instead Mr Dickinson wrongly assumed that a colleague had switched the guillotine off, and he had four fingers cut off as a result.

"This extremely serious incident demonstrates how important it is for manufacturing companies to have automatic safety systems, so that the risk of workers being injured is significantly reduced."

There were nearly 26,000 injuries in the UK manufacturing sector in 2007/8, including 35 deaths. Information on improving safety is available at www.hse.gov.uk/manufacturing.

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that measures are taken...which are effective to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery or to any rotating stock-bar; or to stop the movement of any dangerous part of machinery or rotating stock-bar before any part of a person enters a danger zone

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