Poorly guarded saw leads to lost thumb and heavy fine

A County Durham-based timber processing firm has been fined for putting workers at risk after an employee’s hand was badly injured by a poorly guarded saw. The employee, 22, was working with a colleague, operating a large band rack saw to produce fencing posts from logs when the incident occurred on 4 May 2012.

Darlington Magistrates’ Court heard on 29th January 2014 that as the worker was feeding wood into the saw, his right hand came into contact with the blade. He lost his thumb and index finger and sustained a further deep cut to his middle finger. As a result of his injuries, the worker was unable to return to work for eight months and continues to have problems with movement and grip in his hand for which he is undergoing physiotherapy treatment.

The company, which is not part of the BWF, was prosecuted by the HSE after an investigation into the incident found there was nothing protecting workers from the rear edge of the saw’s blade.

The court was told that the age of the equipment – having been manufactured prior to 1960 – was no excuse for the company not assessing and upgrading the guarding to ensure that dangerous parts were adequately protected.
The West Auckland company, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 in costs plus £120 victim surcharge after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Michael Kingston said:

“This young man lost his thumb and index finger and continues to have mobility and grip problems in his hand due to an entirely preventable incident.

“Serious, life-affecting injuries are all too common in woodworking industries and the sawmill industry in particular has a major injury rate which is over two and a half times that of general manufacturing.”

The safety of your workers is of prime importance. With HSE recovering costs at a rate of £1000/day for inspections during which a breach is found, BWF has prepared a number of resources to help you mitigate Health and Safety risk such as:

– A 12 point ‘Health and Safety: the essentials’ checklist to help prevent you getting caught out and advice on what HSE field inspectors are looking for in our Health and Safety publications.

– A 91 page Health and Safety Manual targeted specifically at Woodworking and Joinery companies.

– Our selection of woodworking machinery safety cards

– Health and Safety training – including machine refresher training, Health & Safety management qualifications and more.

– As a member you can also ring our Health and Safety helpline on 0844 209 2610.

Look out for our brand new 'BWF Health & Safety Hero' initiative to reduce accidents in the workshop.