Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court was told how on 2 August 2016 Petr Jelinek, an employee of Mercury Specialist Frames Limited, was in the process of using an Omga chop saw when the blade fell onto his right hand, severing the fingers of his right hand above the knuckles.
The Health and Safety Executive’s investigation found that the company failed to provide sufficient information and instruction, and there were no risk assessments or safe systems of work in place.
Mercury Specialist Frames Limited of Goodrich Business Park, Gloucester pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,057.72.
Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Tania Nickson said: “Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to inform, instruct and train their workers in the safe system of working.”
“If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the serious injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”
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