Bolton fabric firm in court over finger loss

Date:

20 July 2012

A Bolton fabric manufacturer has been sentenced after one of its employees lost a finger when his hand became trapped by a rotating cog.

Tame Valley Padding Co Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the 27-year-old suffered injuries to his index and ring fingers when his left hand caught in the mechanism.

His index finger had to be amputated to below the top knuckle due to the extent of the injuries he sustained at the factory at Albion Mill on Cawdor Street, Farnworth, on 23 May 2011.

The machine at Tame Valley Padding Co Ltd in Farnworth which caused the worker's injuries

Trafford Magistrates' Court heard today (20 July 2012) that the worker, who has asked not to be named, had been trying to remove a build-up of fibre in a machine used to produce reels of fabric.

A HSE investigation revealed he did so whilst the machine was still operating - a regular practice by Tame Valley employees on the machine in question.

The company has since installed a new safety system which cuts the power if gates leading to the rotating mechanism are opened.

Tame Valley Padding Co Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to prevent access to the dangerous parts of the machine. The company was fined £6,500 and ordered to pay £5,577 in prosecution costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector David Norton said:

"The worker should never have been able to gain access to the dangerous rotating mechanism in the machine while it was still moving.

"Sadly his employer's failings have led to him losing part of the index finger on his left hand, and suffering serious injuries to his ring finger.

"Manufacturing firms must make the safety of their employees their top priority to stop incidents like this from happening again in the future."

The injured employee was one of 3,806 people to suffer a serious injury while at work in the manufacturing industry in 2010/11. Another 27 workers 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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