Manufacturing company fined after worker injured by machinery

A manufacturing company has been fined £20,000 after a worker’s hand was partially severed when it was caught in machinery.

The employee of ADA Machining Services Ltd, Ashton-under-Lyne, was operating a Richards 16ft vertical boring machine on 24 March 2021 when he stepped on to the rotating table to check the internal boring cut but slipped and fell on the table.

On his third attempt to steady himself after slipping, his hand was drawn into the in-running nip, and he suffered a partially severed hand. He remains unable to work.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that there was inadequate guarding to prevent access to dangerous parts of the machinery and an inadequate risk assessment for operating the vertical boring machine.

The investigation found that it was also custom and practice to walk on the rotating machine table during operation of the vertical boring machine.

ADA Machining Services Ltd, of Richmond Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £20,000 with £4,952 costs at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on September 20 2022.

The company, which is a sub-contractor in the machining sector specialising in heavy components, had previously pleaded guilty of breaching the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulation 11(1) on 12 May 2010 for an entrapment accident on a vertical boring machine.

HSE provided guidance on guarding these machines at that time so the company had been aware of the risks for a number of years and should have taken remedial action to prevent a second accident of the same nature happening again.

HSE inspector Lorna Sherlock said after the case: “This injury was easily prevented, and the risk should have been identified and eliminated when the company were given advice on guarding this machine by HSE 11 years ago.

“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 seek to 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
4. More information and guidance on work equipment and machinery can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/index.htm