A cable manufacturer has been fined after two employees were injured in separate incidents on the same machine at a factory in Leigh, Greater Manchester.
TCB Arrow Ltd, which produces ignition cables used by the automotive industry, was prosecuted on 26 July after an HSE investigation found serious safety failings, including poor maintenance of the machine, inadequate safety features and a failure to put a safe system of work in place.
The first incident took place on 12 October 2011 in the TCB Arrow factory on the Firsdale Industrial Estate in Leigh, when a 24-year-old man, who has asked not to be named, was cleaning the blade of a machine used to mould rubber together and accidently leant on the operating pedal, causing his finger to become trapped.
Trafford Magistrates’ Court was told there should have been a guard on the pedal to prevent the machine from being started accidentally.
Less than a month later, on 9 November, a 23-year-old man, who has also asked not to be named, caught his arm when he was cleaning the rollers on the same machine. Despite pressing the stop bar, the machine took several seconds to come to a halt and his arm was dragged into the rollers, raising his body off the floor.
The court heard that the rollers continued to rotate three quarters of the way round after the stop bar was pressed, which is nearly five times more than the legal maximum of 57 degrees.
Doctors initially thought they would need to amputate the arm, but eventually managed to stop the bleeding. The worker required 21 different operations for skin grafts and has lost 90 per cent of the use his arm.
HSE inspector Helen Mansfield said: “Our investigation found TCB last carried out a generic risk assessment for the factory in 2003, and there had never been a specific assessment of the machine — despite the risks of workers being injured by rollers being well known in the manufacturing industry.”
TCB Arrow, of Watchmoor Road, Camberley, Surrey was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay £10,984 in prosecution costs after admitting a breach of the HSWA 1974.
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It seems that firms that put there younger unexperienced workers at risk, who are at the stage of showing there worth to there peers, by taking on the riskier type of job to prove to there peers they are maturing, also know, that if they have a issue with this kind of work that if they are not prepared to do the job? There are plenty of people out there who will! As we do take into account hazards such as weather conditions etc.. i believe recessions are also very much a Issue!