Car components firm fined for woman's finger injuries

Date:

6 July 2011

Release No:

WM465/11

A global car components manufacturer has been fined after a Staffordshire woman fractured and burned her left middle finger while operating a welding machine.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted ThyssenKrupp Tallent Ltd following the incident at the company's factory at Quadrant Point, Wolverhampton Road, Cannock, on 24 August 2010.

The 43-year-old agency worker from Burntwood, who does not want to be named, was using the machine to weld nuts onto car parts when her left hand middle finger became trapped between the electrode and another part of the machine.

South Walls Magistrates' Court heard today that the woman fractured her finger and suffered a severe electrical burn, which has left her with continuing numbness.

She was unable to return to work for four months and was in a great deal of pain during her recovery, needing help with day-to-day tasks including washing, dressing and preparing food.

An HSE investigation found that the machine had no jig fitted to hold the work piece in place and was set to single hand operation control. Workers had to hold the work piece in place with their left hand, while using their right hand to press the control button to operate the machine.

This meant that the left hand was very close to the unguarded moving parts and could become caught.

ThyssenKrupp Tallent Ltd, of Aycliffe Trading Estate, Darlington, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1)(a) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The company was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay £5972 costs.

The court also heard that the company had been fined as a result of a prosecution by HSE in 2009, following a previous incident relating to machinery guarding at the Cannock site.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Katherine Blunt said:

"This was an entirely preventable incident in which ThyssenKrupp Tallent failed to follow its own procedures.

"Most injuries on welding machines involve people's fingers being trapped beneath electrodes. It is a well known risk in this industry and employers must ensure that they have effective guarding measures in place at all times.

"On this occasion, a customer had requested a new part earlier than planned and the job was started before the usual introduction process had taken place.

"It is regrettable that the company had not learned the lessons from a previous HSE prosecution a year before this incident happened."

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. Health and safety legislation is currently under the spotlight as part of the Cabinet Office's Red Tape Challenge. To have your say on which regulations should stay and which should be scrapped, visit: http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/home/index/ and the Government will consider your views.
3. Regulation 11(1)(a) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that effective measures are taken to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery."
4. Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states: "Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and b) the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking."

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