Health and safety training courses needed after worker amputation
At a kennel company, an employee was injured. The injury happened because of a circular saw. The man lost his finger when it encountered the blade on the circular saw in 2011. He was using the saw to cut timber, but he was not using a table or anything else to make the cuts. His left hand was caught in the blade causing his finger to be removed passed the first knuckle. He also had numerous lacerations on his thumb and middle finger of that same hand.
The young worker had to be out of work for six months. He is now working for a different building company. The HSE conducted health and safety audits to determine the cause of the incident such as improper training or issues with the saw. It was found that no training was given for the equipment and he did not have experience working with that type of saw. It was determined that a need for health and safety training courses would be needed not only for the safety of the employees, but to make certain the employers would train their employees correctly. In construction, accidents from power tools can happen easily. The company has now been fined £4,000 and an additional £2,500 in court costs. An incident such as this could have been avoided had the training been proper or someone with the right skills had been using the saw.
