Manufacturer fined after employee’s fingers severed following PUWER failings

Another serious injury has occurred at a wooden cable drum manufacturer based in South Kirby, where a 57-year-old woman’s fingers were partially severed after her hands were drawn into unguarded rollers.

The HSE commented “she was able to raise the guard and easily override an interlock to run the rollers”.  

During our health and safety inspections as part of our competent person service, we observe the process with you and ask the uncomfortable but necessary questions such as:

• Why can the safety feature (interlock) be easily bypassed?
• Why does the machine keep breaking down?
• Do you have competent contractors or maintenance personnel to maintain the machine?
• Do your employees know they shouldn’t override guards and are instructed to stop work and escalate issues to management when there are issues outside of their control?
• Are employees adequately trained to operate the machine? Is there a safe system of work in place?
• How do you consult with employees? Do employees feel comfortable raising issues?

If these questions were considered earlier, this workplace incident could have been easily prevented.

Ask yourself – is it safe? Can hands reach the danger zones? Does the machine fail to safety?

Never rely on “common sense” (a phrase not particularly liked by health and safety practitioners) as a measure to stop employees putting themselves at risk. In reality, it’s reasonably foreseeable for employees, particularly in production and manufacturing environments to cut corners due to production pressures. As an employer, you must control this.

A health and safety consultant / competent person with a manufacturing / production background (like us) will advise you on appropriate engineering control in accordance with the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER), guide you towards competent contractors and support development safe systems of work before someone gets hurt.