Court case highlights poor machine safety

Date:

10 January 2013

Release No:

YH/7/13

A food manufacturer has appeared in court for safety offences after one of its workers lost the tip of her finger using a badly-guarded machine in a Doncaster factory.

Ms Junu Thapa, 37, of Flint Road, Doncaster, severed the end of the ring finger on her left hand as she tried to clear a blockage in a packing machine at King Asia Foods Ltd on 9 November 2010.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and today (10 Jan) prosecuted the company for breaching regulations designed to safeguard workers using machinery.

Doncaster Magistrates heard that Ms Thapa was in the production area at the firm's premises in Doncaster Carr industrial estate. A mobile screw conveyor was being used to fill a packing machine with powdered ingredients but the machine was known to block regularly.

HSE found that the fixed guard over the top of the hopper, which prevented workers getting access to the dangerous screw part, had been modified. Instead of being fixed at all four corners, it was fixed at only two, allowing it to be lifted while the machine was running.

Ms Thapa attempted to clear a blockage while the machine was operating and her hand slipped, hitting the screw mechanism. She was released from hospital after treatment the same day and has since found work with another firm.

King Asia Foods Ltd, of Middlebank, Doncaster, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,506 after admitting breaching the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Lincoln Marks said:

"This incident would not have been possible had the fixed guard not been modified, and had a safe system of work for clearing blockages been established by King Asia Foods and understood by all employees.

"The risks from screw conveyors are well understood in industry and yet poor controls against those risks continue to be a major cause of serious injury.

"This case highlights the dangers of companies not properly safeguarding their employees, and the importance of robust management systems for the checking of guarding arrangements."

The latest HSE figures show 28 people died while working in the manufacturing industry in Great Britain in 2010/11 and there were more than 3,800 injuries. 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... 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."

Press enquiries

Regional reporters should call the appropriate Regional News Network press office.

Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by the Regional News Network