Lancashire couple in court after repeated injuries

Date:

1 October 2010

Release No:

HSE/NW/38BrownBramhall

A Lancashire couple has been prosecuted after an employee was seriously injured twice in less than two months at a pine furniture workshop in Bacup.

Simon Davies, from Bacup, was cutting a small groove into a pine door on 13 July 2009 when it shot out of the machine, forcing his left hand onto a rotating blade. The 21-year-old's index finger was badly cut, most of his nail was removed and the bone was broken.

The machine which caused Simon Davies' injuries

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Kenneth Bramhall and Gill Brown, who run Village Pine on Newchurch Road in Bacup, for failing to provide suitable training for employees, and for not adequately controlling the risk to workers of being injured.

Reedley Magistrates' Court in Burnley heard that, just three weeks before the July incident, HSE had issued seven enforcement notices after Mr Davies suffered similar injuries from a circular saw.

The notices required specific improvements to be made at the workshop, and work on the unguarded and unsafe saw to be stopped completely.

Michael Mullen, the investigating inspector at HSE, said:

"It is regrettable that a worker was badly injured twice in less than two months because basic health and safety measures were not in place. Mr Davies has now left the joinery profession as a result of the injuries he suffered.

"We had no other choice but to prosecute following the second incident, which could easily have been prevented. A simple jig should have been used to handle the wood, keeping the operator's hands away from the blade. Blocks of wood should also have been fitted to the front and back of the machine to deflect the wood if it shot out.

"Sadly, the standard of training needed to do this type of work safely had not been provided. If the measures required by health and safety law had been taken then Mr Davies would not have been injured in this way."

Kenneth Bramhall, 51, and Gill Brown, 65, both pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 9(1) and 12 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

Mr Bramhall and Ms Brown, of Tong Lane, Britania, Bacup, were each fined £6,000. They were also both ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation to Mr Davies, and £2,000 each towards prosecution costs on 30 September 2010.

The woodworking industry has one of the highest injury rates in the manufacturing sector, with most caused by contact with moving machinery. Details on improving safety are available at www.hse.gov.uk/woodworking

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 9(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that all persons who use work equipment have received adequate training for purposes of health and safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken."
2. Regulation 12 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall take measures to ensure that the exposure of a person using work equipment to any risk to his health or safety from any hazard...is either prevented, or, where that is not reasonably practicable, adequately controlled."
3. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk

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