Lancs firm fined £8,000 after workplace injury

A LANCASHIRE company that makes parts for aeroplanes has been sentenced after a worker’s hand was badly injured by a machine.

Callender (Lancashire) Aeropart of Altham was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the employee’s left hand came into contact with a rotating blade in a milling machine at its site on Altham Industrial Estate in July last year.

The 28-year-old employee from Oswaldtwistle severed a tendon, broke his little finger and badly cut his ring finger. He needed an operation to reattach the tendon and physiotherapy to regain movement in his little finger.

The worker, who asked not to be named, was cutting a metal part for a fan in a jet engine when the incident happened. He reached across the machine to retrieve the metal part he had just cut, but the blade was still moving.

Accrington Magistrates’ Court heard that the cutting tool on the machine was not fitted with a guard, despite the issue being raised in a risk assessment carried out by the company 16 months earlier.

Callender (Lancashire) Aeropart Ltd admitted breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. The company was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £3,996 towards the cost of the prosecution, which took place on Wednesday (November 3).

David Myrtle, the investigating inspector at HSE, said: “The injuries this worker suffered were nasty but they could have been a lot worse. He was lucky not to lose one or more of his fingers.

“The risk assessment, carried out by the company more than a year earlier, had identified the machine as being dangerous and needing a guard. But Callender failed to make sure that an appropriate guard was used.

“Unfortunately even the most experienced machine operators can have a lapse in concentration. The company should have made sure a fixed guard had been installed to prevent injuries.”