Risk, Health and Safety Information

Firm fined after worker hurt on unguarded machinery

An  engineering firm has been fined after an employee was injured on an unguarded machine.

The employee, who has asked not to be named, was making a cut in a component on a horizontal borer at MNB Precision Ltd on 20 May 2011 but as he reached over to check the cut, his sleeve came into contact with the rotating part. He was thrown over the top and suspended upside down when his belt caught on the component.

The 56-year-old, suffered minor lacerations, cuts and bruising to his right arm, side and leg and lower back. He returned to work for the company after about a month.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the borer had never been fitted with a guard, despite having been in the factory for more than 15 years.

MNB Precision Ltd, of Falkland Close, Charter Avenue Industrial Estate, Canley, Coventry, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Coventry magistrates today (11 September) fined the firm £18,000 and ordered it to pay full costs of £3,356.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Matthew Whitaker said:

"Workers should not be able to access dangerous moving parts of machinery. To have not installed a guard on this machine was a serious failing and one which resulted in a man suffering a painful injury in what must have been a frightening incident.

"It's not unusual for an incident like this to result in a fatality so the employee was very lucky. The company has since fitted guarding but it is disappointing they did not do so before it happened."