West Yorkshire company's safety failure leads to fine

Date:

24 May 2012

Release No:

Y&H/99/12

A Keighley firm has been fined £15,000 for a serious safety breach after a worker severed three fingers in a machine with rotating spikes.

The 26 year-old employee lost two fingers completely and a third just below the knuckle on his dominant hand while working on a carding machine at JTS Cushions, in Gresley Road, on 29 June 2011.

Bradford Magistrates' Court heard today (24 May) the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and found the company was aware that a timed safety mechanism over ran on the machine, yet failed to fix it.

Magistrates were told the employee, who has asked not to be named, was working on a line filling cushions. He saw a blockage and stopped the machine using a key on a control panel that started a time delay before a safety guard could be opened. Employees had been told to allow extra time and to take care because JTS knew the machine ran for longer than it should before coming to rest.

Although he thought he had allowed enough time, when the man went to clear the blockage, his hand was drawn into spiked rollers that were still rotating, severing the fingers from his right hand. The rollers on the carding machine are covered with wire pins that straighten and mix fibres.

The worker was in hospital for three days, has had two operations and will need a third to help straighten his contracted hand.

JTS Cushions, of Gresley Road, Keighley, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to properly address the timer delay issue, and for allowing access to dangerous moving parts as a result. The firm was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £2,972 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Andrea Jones said:

"This young man sustained a serious injury to his dominant hand. He has lost three fingers and can no longer take part in some of the routine or enjoyable activities we all take for granted. A keen rugby player at the time, he has been unable to play since and is also unable to perform some manual tasks back at work.

"The incident was entirely preventable. He was fortunate not to have received a more serious, or indeed fatal, injury as carding machines are notoriously dangerous. Because their risks are well known they are completely enclosed with a high standard of guarding involving a key system and a timer operation.

"JTS Cushions was aware the machine over-ran the key release mechanism and had even told employees to allow sufficient extra time when accessing the machine. Since the incident the firm has re-set the interlock to make sure the guarding remains in place until machinery has come to a total rest and weekly checks are carried out on the timing controls.

"HSE cannot over-emphasize the importance to employers of ensuring moving rollers of any carding machine have come to a complete stop before guards can be opened."

There were five deaths and more than 550 major injuries in the manufacturing sector in Yorkshire & the Humber according to the latest 2010/11 HSE statistics. A further 1,900 less severe injuries were also recorded.

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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