IN COURT

摘要

Machinery controls. A soft tissue products manufacturer has been fined ￡120,000 with costs of ￡9,326 after a worker lost the tip of a finger when he touched a moving blade of a machine. The incident occurred on 14 May 2016 at the Blackburn premises of Accrol Papers, as the worker fed paper between two rollers. The HSE found that employees could place one hand on the perforating blade, while using the other to press a button to move the rollers. The company had identified the risk of serious injury from the operation, but taken no action. Threading belts, which feed paper safely between the rollers, were missing at the time. It was also possible to operate the machine with one hand and reach between the rollers with the other. Leona Cameron, an HSE inspector, said: "After the incident, the company moved the controls for the machine so that operators could not reach the blade when the machine was moving. Had this been done beforehand, then the injury could have been avoided." Accrol Papers was sentenced on 16 January at Manchester Magistrates' Court, after it admitted a breach of reg. 11 (1 )(a) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, which requires employers to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. The fine represents 0.9% of its most recent pre-tax profit of ￡12,858,000, which it made on a revenue of ￡135,053,000 in the year to 30 April 2017. Between July and October 2016, the HSE served one prohibition notice and five improvement notices on Accrol Group Holdings for unrelated failures at the same address. The group has not been the subject of any other enforcement activity.