A health and nutrition products manufacturer that supplies clients worldwide has been in the dock after a manager’s finger was severed in a blending machine at its factory in Bridlington, East Yorkshire.
Magistrates heard that the manager, an employee of Bee Health, had been helping other operatives because of staff shortages. He had been using a ribbon blender to grind and mix product ingredients on 23 March 2010 and was unaware that a fixed guard underneath the machine had been removed during normal maintenance a month previously, along with a dump valve that needed repairing.
While the part was on order, the blender continued to be operated with a plastic bag to collect the product.
As the man attempted to make a hole in a plastic bag to allow the product to fall through, his fingers were caught in rotating blades. Although he was aware the dump valve had been removed, he did not realise that the guard was underneath it, assuming it was higher up on the machine.
The index finger of the man’s right hand was amputated and he suffered severe cuts plus nerve damage to the middle finger.
Denise Fotherham, the HSE inspector who investigated and prosecuted the case at Bridlington Magistrates’ Court, explained that the company did not look at the risks involved with operating the blender. “As a result, no one knew the valve should not be removed, not even the regular machine operator,” she said. “Workers did not realise the valve formed part of the essential guarding of the machine.”
“Once the valve had been taken off, there was nothing to prevent anyone from putting their hand in under the machine and making contact with the blade,” the inspector told SHP. She said the machine had been used on four occasions after the valve had been removed.
“Bee Health also took no steps to prevent the machine being used if the valve was taken off, such as an interlock. A simple measure like that and adequate instructions for employees would have meant a worker not suffering this debilitating injury,” the inspector added.
In mitigation, Bee Health said the injured person was a manager and therefore would have been expected to ask further questions about the presence of the guard and the usage of the plastic bag.
The company has since fitted the machine with a simple interlocking mechanism to prevent the machine being started unless it is safe.
Bee Health, of Wakefield, was fined a total of £7000 on 10 November and ordered to pay full HSE costs of £4888. It was fined £5000 for breaching reg.11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery, plus £2000 for breaching reg,3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 by not making a suitable risk assessment. It pleaded guilty to both charges.
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