Cheshire manufacturer fined over severed finger

Date:

5 July 2012

A Cheshire firm which makes large steel containers has been sentenced after one of its employees lost part of a finger at a factory in Ellesmere Port.

The 55-year-old man, who has asked not to be named, was trying to remove debris from the chains under a rotating table when his hand was pulled into the mechanism.

His employer, Greif UK Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following an investigation into the incident at the factory on Oil Sites Road on 23 September 2011.

Chester Magistrates' Court was told today (5 July 2012) that the worker had been cleaning a rotating table, which holds the steel container lids in place while they are spray painted, when the glove on his right hand became caught. The incident resulted in him losing the tip of his index finger.

The court heard there were no guards under the rotating table to prevent access to the chains while they were moving. The company has since installed fencing and a gate around the machine, which causes it to stop operating if the gate is opened.

Greif UK Ltd admitted a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. The company was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £3,699 in costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Martin Paren said:

"One of Greif UK's employees was injured because the company failed to do its job properly and look after his safety.

"It was able to install new safety fencing just two days after the worker lost part of his finger in machinery. If the fencing had been in place at the time of the incident, then his injuries could have been avoided.

"Manufacturing firms must make the safety of employees their top priority to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. Otherwise they risk finding themselves in court."

According to the latest figures, nearly 4,000 people suffered a major injury while working in the manufacturing industry in Great Britain in 2010/11 and 27 lost their lives. Information on improving safety is available at www.hse.gov.uk/manufacturing.

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...which are effective to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery or to any rotating stock-bar, or 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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