21/02/2011 - Firm fined after man injures hand
A global packaging company has been fined £5,000 after an employee had three of his fingers severed while trying to clear a machine.
The incident occurred in March last year at Linpac Packaging's St Helen's site in Reginald Road.
The 49-year-old, who asked not to be identified, lost the top of three fingers on his right hand after attempting to free up a blockage in a machine used to dry plastic beads, St Helens Magistrates' Court was told.
The man, from Thornton near Crosby, removed a discharge pipe when his hand touched a 1.7-metre-long rotating screw, known as an auger.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the firm for failing to protect workers from dangerous machine parts and found that employees were often at risk of injury as the pipe would jam once or twice every shift.
The Solihull-based company, which has an annual turnover of £700 million and operates in 19 countries, admitted breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
It was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £2,553 in prosecution costs earlier this month.
Copyright © Press Association 2011
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