Faversham factory fined for safety failings

Date:

22 November 2012

Release No:

L&SE/210/12

A Kent engineering company has been fined after a factory worker suffered severe injuries to his fingers while operating an unguarded circular saw on a broken machine.

Graham Beal from Faversham, Kent, was using a metal-cutting circular saw to make trolley handles at the Brent Hill factory of BMM Weston Ltd on 28 October 2011.

The work involved cutting and shaping a solid steel bar that Mr Beal had to hold steady because the machine's clamping mechanism was broken. As he attempted to do the job, his fingers came into contact with the unguarded blade, severing tendons in his hand and causing serious lacerations to his fingers.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today (22 Nov) prosecuted BMM Weston Ltd for safety breaches after investigating the incident.

Maidstone Magistrates Court was told that HSE found several other saws at the factory that also had issues with inadequate guarding and maintenance.

BMM Weston Ltd of Weston Works, Faversham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 5 and 11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £1200 for Regulation 5, £1200 for Regulation 11 and ordered to pay £1985 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Lisa Skinner said:

"The equipment in use by BMM Weston at the time of Mr Beal's incident was badly maintained and unsafe. It should not have been used at all in the condition it was in. Alternative machinery on site had similar deficiencies.

"The firm has now fitted a suitable guarding kit for the machine and fixed the clamping mechanism so that employees don't need to hold the workpiece whilst cutting the saw blade.

"If BMM Weston had taken the time to properly assess the risks and taken their responsibilities seriously in the first place, Mr Beal would not have suffered these injuries.

"Guidance is readily available to assist employers with the guarding of these machines and the company were in possession of this before the incident."

For more information about managing the risks of factor machinery, visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/index.htm

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 5 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations states that every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.
3. Regulation 11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations states that every employer shall ensure that measures are taken 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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