02/05/2025
The UK Government is considering some significant amendments to building regulations which will impact BWF Members and the wider woodworking and joinery manufacturing industry. A consultation of ...
A Kent joinery firm has been fined for safety failings after an employee lost the tip of his left middle finger on an unguarded piece of machinery.
The 31 year-old, who does not want to be named, required a partial amputation of the injured digit as a result of the incident at the Whitstable business on 5 November 2013, although he was able to return to work shortly after.
The company was prosecuted earlier this year after an investigation by the HSE found a safety guard had been removed and not replaced.
Canterbury Magistrates’ Court heard the worker was using an overhead router to manually machine a rebate along the edge of some door panels. As he worked on his third or fourth panel his left hand slipped and came into contact with the cutting tool.
HSE established that although a guard was available for the machine in question, it had been removed during a change in tooling and not refitted.
Magistrates were told it had not been seen fitted for a couple of weeks, meaning other workers also risked being injured as they used the router.
The company, which is not a BWF member was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £766 in costs after pleading guilty to a single breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
After the hearing HSE Inspector Robert Hassell commented:
“The worker suffered a painful injury and is now permanently disfigured as a result of an incident that was entirely preventable had the safety guard been in place.
“Guards are there for a reason and the onus was on the company to instigate routine checks to ensure they were fitted and working effectively at all times.
“A substantial number of the injuries reported to HSE involve workers coming into contact with dangerous moving parts, particularly in a manufacturing environment. The risks are clear and safety guidance is freely available covering guarding requirements.”
The safety of your workers is of prime importance. The BWF's comprehensive 91 page Guide to Health and Safety in the woodworking industry includes guidance on young persons in the workplace and 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.
– 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.
– Our Health & Safety Hero Campaign resources include short videos you can show to your staff, presentations you can adapt to your own company's health & safety processes and safety essential checklists you can give to each member of staff. There will be a new topic launched each month
