Cheshire manufacturer sentenced over finger loss

Date:

17 February 2012

Release No:

HSE/NW/74Proseal

A Macclesfield firm has appeared in court after one of its employees lost two fingers in machinery.

The 34-year-old was polishing a 12-centimetre-long piece of metal, spinning on a lathe at up to 850 times a minute, when his right hand was dragged into the mechanism.

The lathe which caused the worker's injuries

His middle and ring finger were cut off to the second knuckle as a result of the incident at the factory, on Adlington Industrial Estate in Adlington, on 24 March 2010.

Proseal (UK) Ltd, which manufactures tray-sealing machines for the food industry, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the employee had been allowed to wear gloves while working at the lathe.

Macclesfield Magistrates' Court was told guidance was first issued by HSE nearly 20 years ago warning of the dangers of wearing gloves while using metalworking lathes, and the risk of injury is well known in the manufacturing industry.

The guidance also advises against using emery cloth to polish metal components unless absolutely necessary, and for workers to avoid holding the cloth in their hands.

But the employee from Stockport, who has asked not to be named, was not given any training on how to safely polish the aluminium machine parts.

Proseal (UK) Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of its employees. The company was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £3,807 in prosecution costs on 17 February 2012.

Speaking after the hearing, the investigating inspector at HSE, Lisa Lewis, said:

"This was a needless injury which could easily have been avoided if Proseal had followed health and safety guidance, which is now nearly 20 years old.

"The company now uses pre-polished aluminium whenever it can, and has a few specially-trained members of staff who can safely touch up finished machine components when necessary.

"Proseal should have put more thought into the dangers its employees faced, and provided adequate training to reduce the risk of them being injured. If it had taken this action then a worker could have avoided losing two fingers."

HSE guidance on avoiding injuries on metalworking lathes was first published in 1993, and updated in 2004. It is available to download for free by clicking on 'Engineering leaflets' at www.hse.gov.uk/engineering.

Notes to editors

1. 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
2. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act1974 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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