Dealercast Ltd, a handrail manufacturing company, has been fined after an employees hand was crushed when drawn into a roller.
The Court was told that Eccles, an employee of the company was being trained to use a rolling machine to bend pieces of steel tube by the company Director Chris Ellor. While Eccles was feeding the tubing into the rolling machine, some gloves he was wearing got caught and his hand was drawn into the machine. His little finger was injured and later had to be amputated from the second knuckle.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that there had not been a risk assessment performed for that machine, so no risk had been highlighted for the moving parts. The employee had not completed their training and had no past experience of working with machinery of that kind. It was standard practice for gloves to be worn while using that machinery, and no set procedure had been provided by the company.
Dealercast Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and were fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,661.
Director Christopher Ellor also pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £1,280 and ordered to pay costs of £3,461.
HSE principal inspector Peter Lennon said: "Employers should ensure they carry out an assessment of the risks and put in place a safe system of work for the operation of all machinery. Companies should be aware of the responsibility upon company directors to recognise the way in which their employees are working. Employers should also be aware of the risk of entanglement when wearing gloves whilst operating machinery."
