The flooring firm, Amtico, has been fined £75,000 after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety rules. Coventry Crown Court heard that at the time of the incident, there were no guards to stop access to a machine's dangerous moving parts. As a result, a worker lost a finger and suffered crush and burn injuries to his other fingers and forearm.
Jenny Skeldon, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said, "The employee has suffered life-changing injuries. Companies should consider all the risks associated with this type of work to prevent something like this happening. The HSE publishes approved codes of practice, guidance and information leaflets with practical advice on machinery guarding, so there is no excuse for duty holders who don't control risks and protect their employees."
Rick Zelley, Amtico's manufacturing director said, "Regrettably one of our long-serving and valued employees suffered a serious injury when his hand was caught in one of our machines. We take the safety and health of our employees very seriously and have reacted decisively and responsibly so that this cannot happen again."
The HSE said that this was the third time the company had been prosecuted for failing to guard moving parts of machinery.
For more information, see:
