A steel firm has been fined £600,000 after a worker lost part of his hand in unguarded machinery.
News
Unguarded machine costs SIG Trading £600k in fines
The incident happened at A Steadman and Son near Welton, Carlisle, the trading name of SIG Trading Ltd, on 21 October 2015.
Carlisle Crown Court heard how employee Matthew Hook had been using an electrically-powered folding machine to bend metal, when his hand became trapped between the jaws of the machine.
He had to undergo amputation of parts of four fingers on his left dominant hand owing to the crush injuries he sustained.
An investigation by HSE found SIG Trading, part of FTSE 250 company SIG plc, had failed to ensure workers only used the folding machine when the guards were in place, to prevent them reaching dangerous parts while it was in operation.
As reported by the BBC, a safety measure had been deliberately circumvented allowing staff to activate the machine while standing closer than they should. Although the risk of injury had been identified, “the serious and obvious risk” was subsequently removed from the risk assessment, said Craig Hassall for the prosecution.
SIG Trading Ltd of Adsetts House, Sheffield pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £600,000 with costs of £23,593.83.
Sig Trading was fined £12,000 in 2013 after a customer was crushed against at wall at its Eccles warehouse in September 2012. In August 2011 SIG Trading was fined £36,000 after an employee was run over by a forklift truck at the firm’s Livingstone warehouse in Scotland.
In February 2010 an employee lost part of three fingers in an incident at its Yorkshire plant and SIG Manufacturing was fined £25,000.
NEWS
Tube workers exposed to high dust levels take more sick leave, but more research needed: study
By Kerry Reals on 15 March 2024
London Underground staff working in parts of the network where particulate matter (PM2.5) levels are highest tend to take more sick leave than colleagues in less polluted areas, a new study led by Imperial College London has found.
ONS figures on UK economic inactivity prompt concerns over health of younger workers
By Kerry Reals on 12 March 2024
The latest figures on economic inactivity in the UK have set off alarm bells about the future of the country’s workforce, with young people aged between 16 and 34 driving a rise in the number of people who are not working or actively seeking employment.
NHS England staff increasingly discriminated against and harassed by the public: survey
By Kerry Reals on 11 March 2024
Discrimination against healthcare workers in England from members of the public reached its highest level in five years in 2023, according to data from the latest NHS England staff survey.