Company Fined After Machinist Has Fingers Severed By Unguarded Saw

A Huddersfield timber packaging company has been fined for breaching safety laws after a worker's fingers were partly severed by an unguarded block saw.

The company was prosecuted last month by HSE over the incident that saw a wood machine operator, spend four days in hospital leading up to Christmas 2009 and needed to undergo skin grafts to heal his wounds.

Huddersfield Magistrates' Court heard that the worker was on a late shift at the timber packaging company's Bridge Street site. He noticed sawdust leaking from two holes in a chute below the block saw. When he tried to tape over them his fingers got caught by the machine and the ends of two were severed.

Magistrates heard that the company had already been served with an Improvement Notice in May 2006 when a HSE inspector found a circular saw with inadequate protection to prevent access to dangerous blades.

The company, admitted breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure that plant and systems of work were safe for employees.  The firm was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £2,410 in costs.

After the hearing Inspector Jackie Ferguson commented:

"This incident was entirely preventable and caused by Shaw Pallet's failure to ensure robust systems were in place to prevent access to dangerous moving parts of the block saw. That failure was made worse by the fact that we had taken action for an almost identical breach before.

"The woodworking industry has one of the highest injury rates in manufacturing, most of which are caused by contact with moving machinery. This accounted for a quarter of all major injuries and one of last year's two deaths in this sector.

"HSE will not hesitate to take enforcement action against those that fall so far below the required standard."