Health and safety audit, manufacturing firm is fined
A manufacturing firm located in Cardiff has been fined. The courts found the company guilty of a health and safety violations after an incident with an employee. The employee lost the tip of his finger due to an unguarded piece of machinery. The 21 year old was working at MIB using an unguarded drill when the incident happened.
The HSE conducted health and safety audits to determine the cause of the incident. This led them to find the drill being in an unsafe condition and therefore dangerous for workers to use especially because they were not properly protected. The court heard it was the first time for the worker to be at the factory. He had been assigned to the location to work on steel panels where he was placing and tightening bolts to a board that was going onto the steel panels. The panels were not ready, so instead the young man went to assist another employee who was drilling the holes in the steel frames. He was given gloves to wear and the unguarded drill came into contact with one of the gloves, thus damaging the end of his finger. He lost the finger down to the first knuckle. The firm has been fined £15,000 and has been ordered to pay almost £10,000 in costs along with £3,000 in compensation to the employee. The incident could have resulted in worse damage to the young workers hand, making him rather lucky.
