A Forest of Dean engineering company has been fined after one of its workers injured his hand in a machine on which a safety lock had been intentionally disabled.
The man, who does not wish to be named, nearly lost a finger whilst trying to clear metal debris from a Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) milling machine in November 2012.
Quickmach Engineering Pressings Ltd in Cinderford has been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay over £1,000 in costs after it pleaded guilty to breaching the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court heard how the man, who was an experienced machinist, was carrying out work on components for the aviation industry when he entered the machine to clear some debris with a stick. His right hand slipped and he came into contact with a rotating cutter, which nearly severed his index finger.
He has since had to undergo two operations and was unable to work for a considerable period.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation into the incident and found that an interlock switch to the sliding access door of the machine had been deliberately disabled and dismantled. Had the switch been working, it wouldn’t have been possible to enter the machine until the cutter had stopped rotating. An inspector from the HSE established that the machine had been in this condition for at least two years.
Despite the incident, the HSE reported that after a further visit to the site in December of last year, they found the machine still being used in exactly the same way, with the interlock disabled.
HSE Inspector Caroline Bird said of the incident: “This was a completely needless and entirely preventable incident that left an employee with a painful injury.”