Stourbridge firm fined after man's thumb amputated

Date:

12 May 2011

Release No:

WM426/11

A Stourbridge engineering firm has been fined after an employee lost his thumb when it was crushed during a lifting operation.

Terence Grove, a 55-year-old mechanical engineer at M I Engineering Company Ltd, was using a rope sling attached to a crane to lift a half-ton angle plate when the sling snapped.

The thumb on his right hand was crushed by the falling steel plate and had to be amputated.

M I Engineering Company Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), following the incident at its factory in Bromley Street, Lye, on 30 June 2010.

Dudley Magistrates' Court heard Mr Grove now has difficulty carrying out everyday activities such as holding a pen, cutlery and tools and getting dressed. He has returned to work but has to do everything left-handed or ask colleagues for help.

He requires a further operation later this year to remove a number of pins from his hand.

The HSE investigation found Mr Grove had been using the sling for several years without it being thoroughly examined and with no indication of its safe working load. The company had also not undertaken any risk assessments for work at the factory.

M I Engineering pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £3,321 costs.

HSE inspector Angela Gallagher said:

"This was a preventable incident that has left a man permanently disabled.

"It highlights the importance of properly managing health and safety in general, and in particular ensuring the risks from lifting heavy items are understood.

"M I Engineering did not have a health and safety system to monitor the use of lifting equipment or to ensure all the equipment was thoroughly examined. Furthermore, the company had not carried out any risk assessments for work at its factory.

"All companies must ensure they manage risks in the workplace properly. It is unacceptable to rely simply on the experience of their employees."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce 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
2. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 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."

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