Lack of health and safety training leads to fines
A supplier of gravel and sand is being fined for safety breaches after a worker was injured. The worker was 26 at the time of the 2011 incident in which his hand was severed, affecting three tendons. His hand was caught in a heat-sealing device that contains a blade. He was trying to remove a blockage of quarried material from the machine when his hand was caught. The HSE conducted health and safety audits to determine the reason behind the incident.
It was found that the worker was employed for four months with the supplier at the time of the incident. A lack of health and safety training on the machines accounted for a portion of the incident that occurred. The interlock system designed to cut the power when the doors open did not work. This is why the machine kept running. Instead of turning the machine off by the mechanism, the worker tried to get the blockage clear and the heat sealer hit his hand, cutting three tendons. The injury made it impossible to return to the company and he was off work for eight months so that his hand would heal. Due to the number of safety failings, the HSE decided to prosecute the company. It was found the machine did not have any guard from 2007 onwards, and the mechanism to stop power when the doors opened had been broken since around the same time. Risk assessment and proper corrections were simply not made.
