Health and safety news
11/11/2008

Risk assessment should have prevented accident at work

A West Sussex salad producer has been fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £16,282 costs after a worker lost a finger in an accident at work.

The employee involved in the industrial accident had been taken away from her regular duties in July 2007, and asked to carry out a cleaning procedure. She was given brief instructions about the machine, but during the cleaning her hand was drawn into the machine and a finger was cut off.

At Chichester Crown Court the company pleaded guilty to violations of regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector David Swaite said, "This prosecution highlights both the importance of having properly guarded machines and the need to ensure employees are given appropriate training. "In this case the combination of the ability to access dangerous parts of the machine, and the lack of training and information given to the employee, caused a preventable accident. "Machinery should be effectively guarded so that employees cannot gain access to dangerous parts. If the duty holder had made a suitable risk assessment, they should have identified that it was possible to gain access to a dangerous part of the machine and then taken appropriate control measures. 
He added that employees must be given sufficient information and training to ensure they are fully aware of risks they face and that measures are taken to prevent accidents at work by encouraging safe use of dangerous equipment.