14/12/2010 - Lid firm fined over severed fingers
A Bury manufacturer has been fined £22,500 after a worker severed four fingers using a modified lid-punching machine.
The 51-year-old employee, who wants to remain anonymous, was working at Chadwicks of Bury Ltd, which produces lids for yoghurt pots, ice cream cartons and other food containers, when the incident happened on May 15, 2009.
She was rethreading silver paper through the machine when the cutting tool restarted at the company's Villiers Street factory. Four fingers on her right hand were severed as a result, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) decided to prosecute Chadwicks.
HSE inspectors had discovered that sensors on the machine had been covered so it could be used to cut paper instead of foil lids. If the sensors had been working they would have stopped the machine restarting while the paper was being rethreaded.
Company bosses might decide to double check their safety provisions and liability insurance in light of the fine handed out to Chadwicks.
Chadwicks admitted breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 for failing to block off dangerous parts of machinery.
The company was handed the fine and £8,708 legal costs at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court on December 13.
Nanette Cox, the investigating inspector at HSE, said: "We would remind all companies to ensure machines are properly guarded. This employee has to live with the consequences of these management failings, but lessons must be learnt by other employers."
Copyright © Press Association 2010
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