Bristol company fined for cutting machine injury

Date:

11 October 2010

Release No:

831/SWW/10

The owner of a Bristol lighting company has today been fined £20,000 after an employee was injured by machinery that was not properly guarded.

Darren Wring, trading as Fineline, based in Clevedon Road, Failand, North Somerset, pleaded guilty to regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 at Weston-super-Mare Magistrates Court. He was also ordered to pay costs of £1,800.

Rolf Weber sustained minor head injuries on 5 February 2010, after going into the working area of the machine to remove a finished work piece and inadvertently hitting his head on the cutter which was still rotating at full speed.

Christine Haberfield, HSE Inspector said:

"Fortunately, Mr Weber's injuries were fairly minor, but the cutter on which he hit his head was rotating at 18,000rpm and he could have been very seriously injured or even killed.

"It is vital that dangerous machinery is properly safeguarded. In this case, the cutting area should have been enclosed with doors that were linked to the operation of the machine to prevent anybody going into the danger area while the machine was running. People can help prevent similar incidents by checking machinery safeguards regularly, to make sure that they are still working correctly."

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states that every employer shall ensure that measures are taken in accordance with paragraph (2) which are effective -
   1. to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery or to any rotating stock-bar; or
   2. to stop the movement of any dangerous part of machinery or rotating stock-bar before any part of a person enters a danger zone.
   (2) The measures required by paragraph (1) shall consist of -
   1. the provision of fixed guards enclosing every dangerous part or rotating stock-bar where and to the extent that it is practicable to do so, but where or to the extent that it is not, then
   2. the provision of other guards or protection devices where and to the extent that it is practicable to do so, but where or to the extent that it is not, then
   3. the provision of jigs, holders, push-sticks or similar protection appliances used in conjunction with the machinery where and to the extent that it is practicable to do so, and the provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary.
2. The machinery in this case was a rotating spindle and cutter of a CNC 5 Axis lathe.
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
4. For more information on how HSE ensures that risks to workers' health and safety from the supply and use of work equipment and machinery are properly controlled, visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR South West