19/07/2010 - Worker's hand ripped off by lathe
A metalworker had his hand ripped off while working on a machine during a shift at a County Durham factory, a court has been told.
Despite surgeons managing to stitch the hand back on, the 55-year-old victim no longer has any feeling in it and cannot use it. He had to have five operations and was kept in hospital for five weeks because of the accident in June 2009. He is still unable to go back to work.
Magistrates in Peterlee heard how the man's hand was taken off by a metalworking lathe while working at Conder Solutions Limited's site at the South West Industrial Estate. Conder, based in Whitehouse Way, was given a £15,000 fine and told to pay costs of £2,759. It admitted breaking health and safety regulations.
The Health and Safety Executive brought the firm to court. Magistrates were told that the worker was using emery cloth to polish a metal shaft rotating on the lathe. But despite wearing gloves and holding the cloth with two hands, his right hand touched the shaft as well as the lathe's cutting tool and was ripped off.
HSE inspector Cain Mitchell said after the court case: "This employee suffered an extremely painful and possibly life-changing injury because Conder Solutions Limited failed to take measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of the lathe and to ensure a safe system of work was being used."
Copyright © Press Association 2010
Related links
|
