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 timber mouldings manufacturer in Rochdale has been fined after a young apprentice lost two fingers of his right hand while working on machinery.
The 16-year-old was an apprentice with the company (who are not BWF members) and was working alongside an experienced colleague on a moulding machine when the incident happened on 23 July 2014.
Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard on 29 May that the teenager had been working alongside a colleague on the machine at the company’s sawmill, when a piece of wood jammed and would not feed through properly.
The machine was opened to try to rectify the problem. The teenage apprentice was looking inside and trying to help adjust the machine when his gloved right hand caught on the rotating central blade.
His right hand was severely injured, and he lost the entire middle finger and part of the thumb.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that company had failed to effectively prevent access to the dangerous parts of the machinery.
The Rochdale company was fined £18,000 with costs of £844.50 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
After the hearing, HSE Inspector Emily Osborne, said:
“This incident could have been easily prevented if the company had suitable measures in place to ensure workers did not come into contact with the rotating blade on the machine. In this case the machine should have been switched off.
“There was no safe system of work in place for the task as well as a lack of instructions and training to ensure workers knew how to carry out the task safely.
“Instead, the firm’s failures led to a young worker suffering a severe injury, losing a finger and part of his thumb.”
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
