Industry news
Glazing firm fined over finger loss
Posted Fri, 29 Jun 2012
A glazing business has been prosecuted for breaching safety legislation after an employee lost part of a finger in a woodworking machine.
Norbert Pietrzkiewicz had to have the little finger on his right hand amputated just below the first joint after it was injured in a cutting block that was rotating at 7,000 rpm while he was trimming the thickness of lengths of timber.
The accident occurred at a factory in Aldershot in Hampshire on 18 February 2011 and Total Installations Ltd were found guilty by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of not making sure that adequate safeguards were put in place.
The planer-thicknesser machine was set up by an untrained operative and the firm admitted two breaches of health and safety legislation at Aldershot Magistrates' Court and was given a £12,000 fine and made to pay costs of £3,791.50.
Copyright Press Association 2012