Company fined after worker hurt in machinery

Date:

28 June 2012

Release No:

HSE/M/73/12

A Derbyshire window manufacturer has been fined after an employee's arm was dragged into a poorly guarded machine.

Wayne Marshall, 29, of Eastwood, was using a corner cleaning machine at Frame Trade UK Ltd in Langley Mill when the incident happened on 13th May 2010.

A build-up of plastic debris had covered a sensor and prevented the machine from operating correctly. Mr Marshall went inside the machine to clear the sensor of debris, but his sleeve got caught on a high speed cutter that is used to remove surplus plastic.

He suffered serious lacerations to his left forearm, damaged tendons on two fingers and was off work for several weeks. He has since returned to work for a different company.

Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court heard today (28 June) that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and found the machine wasn't adequately guarded.

HSE enquiries also revealed that Mr Marshall had not been shown how to correctly isolate the power to the machine.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Berian Price said:

"Employers have a duty to make sure machinery is adequately guarded so that staff cannot access dangerous moving parts.

"Although the corner cleaning machine had side panels, these were not fixed in place and staff were able to easily remove them or, if they had already been removed, just reach straight in.

"Mr Marshall had not been shown how to correctly isolate the power to the machine so that cleaning activity could be carried out safely. He was not aware of the dangers and suffered some particularly nasty injuries as a result."

Frame Trade UK Ltd, of Joshua Business Park, Cromford Road, Langley Mill, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 for its guarding and training failures. The company was fined £10,000 and ordered it to pay full costs of £6,541.

Since the incident the company has bought a new machine with interlocked guards.

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. Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "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.

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