August 2011 - Worker had 3 fingers severed when using a bandsaw
A County Durham firm has been fined after a worker had three fingers severed while using a bandsaw. The worker was working as a contractor for a company which manufactures and installs mineral processing and effluent treatment systems and equipment. The day the accident happened he was working at the company's head office in Chilton where he was using a horizontal metal cutting bandsaw to cut down pieces of steel to make a frame. There was no safety guard in place and his left hand came into contact with the moving blade, severing three of his fingers.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the prosecution after investigating the incident which happened in the spring of 2010. The court heard that the employee had to undergo ten hours of surgery as doctors attempted, unsuccessfully, to re-attach one of his fingers. He was in hospital for a week.
The employee had been managing director of his own company, AJL Safenet Ltd, which manufactured and installed metal flooring, and had been working as a contractor for the County Durham company Ltd during quiet periods. Unfortunately his own company has had to cease trading as he has been unable to return to work.
The court was told that the County Durham company had also allowed its employees to operate another horizontal metal cutting bandsaw without the required adjustable blade guard despite having been given advice from HSE inspectors in 2008 on what safeguards were required when using such equipment. The firm was fined after pleading guilty to one breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and one breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
After the case, HSE Inspector Cain Mitchell, said:
"This was an entirely avoidable incident which resulted in Mr Houston suffering a life changing injury to his hand and has led to his own company going out of business. The bandsaw should not have been used without the correct guarding to prevent access to the moving blade.
"Preventing access to dangerous parts of machinery with the use of suitable guards is a simple, but vital precaution to help ensure the safety of workers.
"In this case, the bandsaw used by Mr Houston had been in use without a suitable guard for some months while a second saw had been identified by Inspectors as having no guard in place some two years earlier. However, despite this warning, the company failed to take any action putting its workers at risk of injury."
Extract from HSE website 8/8/11
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