Finger injury results in injury claim

An accident claim resulting from a December 2009 incident in which a worker lost two fingers has seen a West Yorkshire company fined £7,500.

Shaw Pallet Ltd of Slaithwaite was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as a result of the accident in which the staff member on a late shift at the timber packaging company's Bridge Street site attempted to tape over two holes leaking sawdust from a chute above a block saw.

However, his fingers got caught by the machine and the ends of two were severed, resulting in him spending four days in hospital and needing to undergo skin grafts to heal his wounds.

At Huddersfield Magistrates Court, Shaw Pallet admitted breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £2,410 in costs.

Commenting on the case, HSE inspector Jackie Ferguson said: "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."

It comes after Nigel Ashley, a partner at the precision engineering firm, Ashley's of Yeovil, was recently issued with a £10,000 fine at Yeovil Magistrates Court following an accident claim resulting from an incident in which a worker lost four figures.
Posted by Tessa Jones

An injury claim brought about after a worker lost two fingers has seen a Huddersfield firm fined.