Carpentry firm fined £3,000 after worker loses finger

A CARPENTRY company was fined £3,000 after one of its employees lost his index finger when it became trapped in an unguarded machine.

David Bell’s job with Prospect Joinery, in Stourbridge, was to hand feed lengths of wood into a machine to make beading (left).

As Mr Bell was feeding wood into the machine, his hand became caught resulting in amputation of his right hand index finger, a broken middle finger and severe cuts to his other fingers.

The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted Prospect Joinery and it pleaded guilty to breaching Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

As well as the fine, it was ordered to pay costs of £1,000 at Stourbridge and Halesowen Magistrates court.

Mr Bell also suffered associated nerve and tendon damage to his hand as a result of the incident in June last year which the HSE says still affects his daily activities now.

Small tasks like doing up a shirt button cause difficultly because of numbness and pain and the 59-year-old has been unable to return to work following the incident and is currently unemployed.

HSE inspector John Glynn said after the hearing: “Prospect Joinery failed in its role to protect its workers by not properly guarding this machine.

“Mr Bell should never have been placed in the position he was, and is now suffering long-term debilitating injuries as a consequence.

“The company should have also put in place a safe tooling arrangement, which would have helped to prevent the severity of Mr Bell’s injuries.

“Employers must fully assess the dangers associated with their work.

“In this case, the risks associated with woodworking machinery are well known, and should have been adequately controlled.”

Prospect Joinery had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.