A company in Winsford has been handed a £70,000 fine for breaching safety rules after one of its workers suffered 'life changing' injuries.
A man's left thumb was severed when his hand was pulled into rotating cogs in machinery he was cleaning at Jiffy Packaging Company.
The incident meant he had to endure skin grafts and left him unable to work for 15 weeks.
Jiffy Packaging Company – which produces stationery products and packaging for the food industry – was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Failure to take adequate measures
Liverpool Crown Court heard that although they had partially guarded the rollers and cogs of the machine with an interlocked guard, they failed to take adequate measures to prevent access to all dangerous parts of machinery.
The business had also previously been served with several HSE improvement notices highlighting machinery guarding issues.
The HSE's investigation found that the company’s risk assessment had been written nine years earlier by an employee untrained in creating risk assessments and did not identify risks related to unguarded machinery or any control measures.
Preventable
HSE inspector Adam McMahon said following the court hearing: “The employee’s life changing injuries could have been prevented if a suitable and sufficient risk assessment had been completed and the correct control measures implemented.
“The day after the accident the company carried out a new risk assessment of the machine and guarded the area in which the employee reached through with a clear plastic screen.
"The company followed this up with a written safe system of work relating to cleaning the rollers.’’
Jiffy Packaging Company was fined £70,000 with full costs of £53,509.
