13th July 2022

Company Fined After Machinery Incident

What’s Happened

A West Yorkshire-based manufacturing company has recently been fined for safety breaches after a worker lost part of their hand in a textile machine.

An employee of the company was understood to be running a number of textile machines at the site. When he opened a guard to check on a build-up of fibres, he reached in to remove material – subsequently making contact with the moving parts of machinery resulting in him losing part of his hand.

HSE Investigation

As is customary for serious workplace incidents of this nature, an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is ensured. The Inspector found that one of the machines had a defective interlock device. This allowed the machine to continue running even when the guard (which was located over a pair of in-running rollers and gears) was opened.

In Court

Laxtons Ltd of Baildon, Shipley, West Yorkshire appeared at Leeds Magistrates’ Court where they pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £15,750 and ordered to pay £759 in costs.

After the case, the HSE inspector leading the prosecution said: “Machine guarding should be in line with the appropriate standard, and regularly checked.

“This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply training staff in the safe and correct way of operating machinery, and regularly checking that safety devices are functioning.”

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