Somerset man fined following injury claim

An accident claim resulting from an incident in which a worker lost four figures has seen a man from Somerset fined £10,000.

Nigel Ashley, a partner at the precision engineering firm, Ashley's of Yeovil, was issued with the penalty at Yeovil Magistrates Court after a prosecution was brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) over the March 2010 incident.

Apprentice machinist Kyle Bishop lost four fingers at the firm's premises where machinery spares and engineering components for the tobacco industry are manufactured after he switched on a cutting machine while the cutter was still in his hand.

Commenting on the incident, Leo Diez, an inspector with the Health and Safety Executive, said: "For a young man to lose four fingers in an incident like this at the start of his career is serious and severely affects his future employment prospects."

It comes after Moughton Engineering, of Faraday Road, Great Yarmouth Magistrates Court, was recently fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £4,846.80 in costs following an incident in which an apprentice at the firm suffered an accident injury involving toxic pickling paste

Published by Tessa Jones