Engineering firm sentenced over severed fingers

Date:

4 September 2012

A Skelmersdale firm which makes outdoor shelters has appeared in court after an employee lost parts of three fingers when his hand became trapped in a forklift truck.

PRF Engineering, which manufactures shelters for bikes and supermarket trolleys, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at its factory on Grimrod Place on 19 May 2011.

The forklift truck which caused the worker's injuries

Ormskirk Magistrates' Court heard yesterday, Monday 3 September, that the 36-year-old worker from Kirkby, who has asked not to be named, had been helping to transport a three metre-wide metal sheet when he was injured.

He and a colleague stood on top of the sheet to stabilise it on the prongs of the forklift so it could be moved, but as the sheet was lowered the worker's left hand became trapped.

He was taken to hospital by ambulance where his fingers were reattached but has only been able to regain partial use of his hand.

The court was told the company had failed to carry out a proper assessment of the risks faced by their workers. It should not have allowed employees to stand on top of the forks and should have found another way to transport the sheets of metal such as using a large metal basket.

PRF Engineering pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety or employees. It was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £5,164 in costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Imran Siddiqui said:

"This incident resulted in an employee suffering permanent damage to his left hand because not enough thought was put into his safety.

"The company should simply not have allowed workers to stabilise sheets of metal by standing on top on them on forklift trucks. It would have been obvious to anyone witnessing this that it was unsafe.

"If PRF Engineering carried out a proper assessment of the risks its employees faced then this incident could have been avoided."

A total of 27 people lost their lives while working in the manufacturing industry in Great Britain in 2010/11, and more than 3,800 major injuries were reported. Information on improving safety in manufacturing 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. 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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