Health and Safety Failings – Firm in court after employee’s hand trapped in metalworking lathe

Firm in court after employee’s hand trapped in metalworking lathe

Key Facts:

• A worker’s gloved hand was drawn into a metalworking lathe in what the HSE called ‘an entirely avoidable incident’.
• The company had been prosecuted twice before for issues of health and safety.
• The firm were fined £8,000 for breaching health and safety regulations.

The Case:

An HSE investigation was launched after a precision engineer was injured when his hand was drawn into a metalworking lathe in an incident on 19 March 2013.

The metalworking lathe diameter had been set correctly and remotely by a computer, but the employee had switched it into manual mode. The emery cloth he was using became entangled in the machinery and dragged his gloved hand into the machine with it.

He strained tendons in two of his fingers and fractured a bone in his right hand. As a result of the incident, he was unable to return to work for four weeks.

The HSE investigation found several key health and safety failings at the company:

• They had not carried out any risk assessments for the precision engineering department, or for any of the machinery within it – including the metalworking lathe.
• The day-to-day running of the workshop, including health and safety matters, was left to an undertrained manager whose knowledge was limited.
• There had been no risk assessment for the use of emery cloths, and so workers had developed an unsafe working method. Safer alternatives for use with the metalworking lathes were available but unexplored.
• The company had previously been fined £500 in 1999 and £2,000 in 2000 after being prosecuted for health and safety breaches.

The investigating HSE officer therefore described it as ‘an entirely avoidable incident’.

The case was heard at Banff Sheriff Court on 10 March 2015, and the company pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and were fined £8,000.

What the HSE inspector had to say:

Speaking after the hearing the HSE Inspector Niall Miller stated that:

“This was an entirely avoidable incident. The dangers of wearing gloves when working with lathes are well known.

Macduff Shipyards Limited should have been aware of the risks to workers in its precision engineering department and should have given them appropriate training and supervision.

As there was no official system of work planned by the company, workers used methods that were unsuitable and which put them at risk, ultimately ending up with Mr Toparek sustaining injuries to his right hand and being unable to work for four weeks.”

What the law states:

Regulation 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states:

“It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.”

This case demonstrates the importance of correct health and safety procedures being in place, and what can go wrong if this is overlooked. Safer alternatives and better health and safety practice could have prevented this incident. Considering the company had two previous convictions for health and safety failings, they should have been treating this with more care. The risks of wearing gloves whilst operating metalworking lathes would have been obvious if the proper training and assessment of risks had been in place.

Further information from the HSE on engineering safety can be found here.

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