Anti Corrosives Ltd finally fined after three Prohibition Notices

An employee at a Burnley plastics firm narrowly avoided severing his fingers when his hand came into contact with a rotating blade, a court has heard.

The 43-year-old from Bury, who has asked not to be named, suffered damage to the index finger on his right hand in the incident at Industrial Anti Corrosives Ltd in Dunnockshaw, which trades as IAC Plastics, on 2 April last year.

Reedley Magistrates’ Court in Burnley was told that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has investigated several similar incidents at other factories in the past where workers have lost fingers or suffered permanent damage to their hands.

The court heard the company had carried out a risk assessment in 2007 where it identified the need to fit guards on several machines, including the one used by the injured worker. However, it failed to act on this.

The machines were also left unguarded for two months after the incident, until HSE inspectors served the company with three Prohibition Notices requiring guards to be fitted.

Industrial Anti-Corrosives Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to prevent access to dangerous machine parts.

The company, of Manchester Road in Dunnockshaw, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,991 in prosecution costs on 22 November 2012.

via RNN media information for journalists and the press – Press Releases – Plastics firm fined over employee’s finger injury – RNN media information for journalists and the press.