Edge banding machine severs worker’s finger as guarding failings cost company dear

A Staffordshire furniture company has been fined after an employee severed a finger in an unguarded machine.

The 61-year-old worker, from Stone, was attempting to clean an edge banding machine at the company’s factory in Stafford when his left hand was caught by a rotating blade. Stafford Magistrates' Court heard last week that he suffered a number of injuries in the incident on 9 October 2012, including severing his little finger.

An investigation by HSE found that the interlock safety switch on the machine had been defeated, allowing access to the machine while the blade was moving. It also found the company had failed to carry out a risk assessment for the machine since it was introduced in 2010.

BWF members are reminded that they can find draft risk assessments and Health & Safety policies within the Publications section of the website. Our guidance also includes the set of Machine Safety Cards, and the comprehensive ‘BWF Guide to Health and Safety in the woodworking industry’, which members can download for free. Machine Safety Card number 26 covers the edge banding machine.

The company in question was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £1,025 in costs after pleading guilty to a single breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

After the hearing HSE inspector Wayne Owen said:

"What happened to this employee was easily preventable had the company appropriately considered the risks from their work processes and most fundamentally, not removed the safety device from the edge bander."

HSE statistics for 2010/11 show there were 25 fatal injuries and more than 17,000 injuries in the manufacturing industries. It is estimated that British employers would save 250,000 work days each year if they could just keep people safe on machinery.

BWF Policy Executive Matt Mahony commented:

"Woodworking companies who fall short of their Health & Safety obligations will be charged intervention costs of £124 per hour if a breach in the law is discovered during an HSE inspection. HSE have been receiving millions of pounds in revenue from manufacturing businesses through the controversial scheme and although inspections are more likely if a company has previously encountered a Health & Safety incident, joinery businesses in general will continue to be a prime target as the sector is considered by HSE to be of higher risk.

"All joinery companies need to ensure they have the legally required Health & Safety precautions in place, including PPE, regular LEV testing, appropriate first aid provisions, full risk assessments and lung function testing if necessary."

BWF has produced a 12 point ‘Health and Safety: the essentials’ checklist to help prevent you getting caught out. You can download it from our Health and Safety publications, along with additional guidance on what HSE inspectors will be looking for: www.bwf.org.uk/publications/health-and-safety/3. We have also negotiated exclusive rates with experienced health & safety advisors for a simple value for money Health and Safety Audit package.