West Yorkshire company failed to safeguard workers

Date:

13 June 2012

Release No:

Y&H/114/12

A West Yorkshire engineering firm has been fined after a worker was badly injured when he became entangled in a rotating machine tool that caught him by the neck.

Photo shows some of Mr Cisarik's clothing wound around the CNC machine tool and the size of the machine inside

Mr Tomas Cisarik, 33, suffered a deep gash running 20cms long and 8cms wide on his back, a cracked foot bone and severe friction burns from his neck, down his left arm to his wrist. His clothes were literally ripped from his back.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today (13 June) prosecuted P. Craven Engineering Co. Ltd., of Batley, for serious safety failings after investigating the incident at their Heckmondwike factory on 7 September 2011.

Huddersfield Magistrates' Court was told that Mr Cisarik, from Dewsbury, had pre-programmed one of the firm's CNC machines for a short warm-up cycle where the machine tool would rotate at around 300rpm.

He returned later and went inside to clean up the metal shavings. As he entered the machine, he felt a pull on his neck and his clothes were ripped from the top half of his body. A colleague heard a loud bang and Mr Cisarik's screaming and saw he had been pulled into the machine and was trying to climb out of a side door.

The court was told that if the safety interlocks had been working, the machine would have stopped as Mr Cisarik entered the machine. Instead the safety interlocks had been intentionally disabled as the key had been placed into the main switch on an opposite door. This wrongly signalled that the machine door was closed, but in fact allowed it to run with the doors open, giving unguarded access to dangerous machinery.

Following the incident, HSE served four Prohibition Notices on the company preventing further use of the CNC and three other machines because of inadequate guarding of dangerous equipment. Interlock switches on two other CNC machines were found to be broken.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Andrea Jones, said:

"This horrific incident was entirely preventable. P. Craven Engineering Ltd failed to put vital, but very straightforward, measures in place to protect its workforce. The machine should been provided with working interlocked guards that stop the movement of dangerous parts when opened.

"Tomas Cisarik was very lucky not to be paralysed or killed. He was able to return to work for a different company after three months. He was still in constant pain and couldn't bend his back. Fortunately he has now nearly fully recovered.

"The very real dangers associated with CNC machines include entanglement with rotating parts, contact with sharp tools, crushing, and injury by ejected components. These risks are well known in the industry and the safeguards are very well established."

P. Craven Engineering Co Ltd of Woodlands Road, Batley, admitted contravening the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 at the factory in Walkley Lane, Heckmondwike. They were fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £2,302 in costs.

Notes to editors

Photo shows some of Mr Cisarik's clothing wound around the CNC machine tool and the size of the machine inside.

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 to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery.'
3. HSE news releases are available at www.hse.gov.uk/press.

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