AN ASHTON firm has been fined £20,000 after a worker’s hand was partially severed when it was caught in machinery.
The employee suffered the gruesome injury when he was operating a Richards 16ft vertical boring machine at ADA Machining Services Ltd.
Now the company, based on Kayley Industrial Estate on Richmond Street, has been ordered to pay the five-figure sum after it was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Manchester Magistrates Court heard the incident occurred on March 24 last year when the man stepped on to the rotating table to check the internal boring cut but slipped and fell.
On his third attempt to steady himself after slipping, his hand was drawn into the in-running nip, and he suffered a partially severed hand.
An investigation by the HSE found there was inadequate guarding to prevent access to dangerous parts of the machinery and an inadequate risk assessment for operating the vertical boring machine.
It also found it was custom practice to walk on the rotating table during operation of the vertical boring machine.
ADA Machining Services pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was also order to pay £4,952 costs.
It is not the first time the company has found itself under investigation.
The sub-contractor in the machining sector specialising in heavy components had previously pleaded guilty of breaching the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulation 11(1) on May 12, 2010 for an entrapment accident on a vertical boring machine.
The HSE said it, ‘provided guidance on guarding these machines at that time so the company had been aware of the risks for a number of years and should have taken remedial action to prevent a second accident of the same nature happening again.’
Now as the man remains unable to work following his injury, it has been spared no sympathy.
HSE inspector Lorna Sherlock said: “This injury was easily prevented, and the risk should have been identified and eliminated when the company were given advice on guarding this machine by HSE 11 years ago.
“Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.”