Company fined after worker loses top of finger

Llanharan Concrete Co. Limited has today been fined after a worker was injured when his glove got entangled with the moving blade of a table saw.

Cardiff Magistrates’ Court heard how the employee of the company was cutting wood with a table saw when his glove got entangled, pulling his finger into contact with it. The injured worker was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery to amputate the top of his left index finger to the first knuckle.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found there was a lack of supervision, no risk assessment or safe system of work was in place for using the table saw, and no training was given to the worker before using the saw. This was despite the company having previously been advised by a HSE inspector, and their own health and safety consultants, to implement safe systems of work for their machinery.

Llanharan Concrete Co. Limited of Llanharry Road, Llanharan, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 and has been fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,889.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Lee Jones said, “This injury could have easily been prevented had the risk been identified.

“Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise. hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: legislation.gov.uk/
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk