A dad who lost his hand while operating machinery at an Ellesmere Port factory has talked about the day that changed his life forever.
Philip Grace, from Kensington, was working as a fabricator welder at Recresco Ltd, glass recycling plant in January 2014, when the accident happened.
He was working under the platform of a machine belt when he lost his footing and was dragged along the moving belt.
Mr Grace, 43, said: “The pain was excruciating. I screamed 'help' from the platform. I will always remember lying there knowing I’d lost my hand.”
He said he had to use all his force not to lose the whole of his right arm to the machine roller during the terrifying ordeal.
The agency worker had only been working at the factory for six months before the accident.
Mr Grace says he is still angry at Recresco Ltd, which was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £21,625.70 by Judge Robert Trevor-Jones at Liverpool Crown Court.
The dad, who maintains his life will never be the same again, said: “They wanted production twenty-four-seven and put production before our safety. I felt under pressure to get the job done.”
He described how daily life has been turned upside down after working every day since leaving school.
Mr Grace added: “My days feel empty now. The only thing I have to look forward to is taking my son to school. I miss work – the people and the routine – and not to mention the money.”
He and his wife Kelsey now live off state benefits and her part-time job.
He added: “Kelsey has to look after me now – she helps me dress and even has to cut my food sometimes. The accident has left me feeling like a freak – people stare at me in the street – do you know how frustrated that makes you feel?”
The doting dad misses playing X-box, going on bike rides and building Lego with his eight-year-old son Edward – something he just took for granted before losing his hand and lower arm.
He said: “Psychologically it’s been very tough for me – I have to stand and look in the mirror; it takes it out of you. I have to accept this is me now – for the rest of my life.”
Mr Grace who sees a psychiatrist to help him deal with the recurring mood swings he suffers, said: “I can never be compensated for what’s happened to me.”
His solicitor Richard Edwards, of Potter, Rees Dolan, said: “The waste and recycling industry generally needs to pull its socks up and start looking after the safety of its employees. Data from the Health & Safety Executive shows that it is a high risk industry that accounts for a disproportionate number of work place injuries.
“Rescresco, however, really must take a long and hard look at itself and not shirk from the difficult questions because the death of one employee in 2010, and now this horrendous injury to Phil, stands as a record to what some might say is a Dickensian workhouse rather than a 21st century recycling plant.”
