Woodworking machine injury, crushes worker’s ankle

Wood Working Machine Injury – crushes a worker’s ankle – An employee conducting maintenance on a piece of machinery was trying to flush lubricant through the grease unit on the machine. He had one foot on the floor and the other on a base plate next to a large moving bed. He asked another employee to turn on the machine. As they did so, the already programmed machines bed immediately moved forward crushing the man’s foot between the bed and base plate.
The investigation found that in order for the machine to be turned on required the operator to lose sight of the injured party, as such they were unaware they were not clear of the machine. The machine had a hand held mobile remote control pendant, used to control the machine. This pendant had been broken for three and a half years and had not been repaired or replaced.
The company was found to be grossly negligent failing to consider the risks to employees engaged in specific tasks on the machine. The incident was entirely preventable if the inexpensive pendant had been kept in good working order. This coupled with a lack of safe systems of work led to the injury.

The company was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,677.