A young employee of a packaging company in Essex suffered a nasty injury while working on a machine.  The 20-year-old man who asked to remain anonymous was operating a machine that is used to make cardboard tubes.  Unfortunately the machine had not been correctly set up for use, resulting in his right hand being pulled into the machine and badly bruised.

Not the First Accident on a Machine

After the incident the man had to have eight days off work.  This was the second incident involving the machine that saw another employee suffer very similar injuries.  That previous accident had only happened four month before and yet there had still not been any risk assessment carried out to avoid a repeat accident.  The investigation also found that the machine did not have a trip switch in the right position.  Had it been correctly situated the machine would have stopped before the hand was injured in the machine’s danger zone.

Curran Packaging Company were fined £15,000 after they pleaded guilty at Basildon Magistrates Court.  They were also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £15 and £4,069 in court costs. The regulation they breached was section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.  This section states that all employers have a duty to ensure the safety and welfare of their employees so far as is reasonably practicable.  In particular this section relates to the operation of the systems of work and the maintenance of plants.

You Must Protect Your Employees

All employees that use machinery for work need to be protected from the risks involved.  Machines have dangerous working parts that can cause serious injury and even death.   Therefore employees have to ensure that all the risk assessments for each job performed on each machines are kept up to date.  The machines have to be set up properly with the right stop buttons and safety guards in place each and every time a worker operates the machine.

If you run a plant, it is vital that you are aware of the health and safety regulations and your responsibilities.  One of the health and safety services of use is the training that can ensure you have the knowledge and the skills to implement strong health and safety policies in your organisation.  You can also obtain training on how to perform risk assessments for your senior employees.

To organise training speak to your health and safety consultants.  There are numerous courses available for employers, their managers, supervisors, and all employees within the organisation.  To find out more about the available courses, or book yourself on the next suitable training session contact us on 0800 1488 677.

About David Cant

David Cant is a Chartered Safety and Health Practitioner extraordinaire. He has a wealth of Industry experience and is the MD of Veritas Consulting. David also Blogs about Health and Safety here Health and Safety Consultants

His aim is to flavour Health and Safety with integrity, served with a side of humour You can find David on - Twitter and Google also Linkedin