Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Healthcare firm in court over severed thumb
Synergy Health (UK) has appeared in court after an "inadequately trained" employee at its Chorley factory lost part of his thumb when it became trapped in a dry wipes machine that was found by investigators to have insufficient guarding
Leyland Magistrates' Court was told last Friday that the 39-year-old had been working at the plant at the Matrix Park industrial estate on Western Avenue in November 2011 when he reached into the tunnel leading out of the machine to stop it becoming blocked with wipes that had not been cut properly. His left hand became caught in the slatted conveyor belt and he lost the top of his thumb to the first knuckle when the belt forced it against a metal plate.
The court heard from the Health & Safety Executive that the company had failed to carry out a proper risk assessment for the work, and so had not identified the risk of worker's hands becoming trapped in the conveyor belt.
Synergy Health, of Whitehall Way in Swindon, Wiltshire, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to prevent access to dangerous machine parts. The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,573.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Christina Goddard said:
"This incident could easily have been avoided if Synergy Health had carried out a proper assessment of the risks and made sure its employees were properly trained.
"The risk of workers hands becoming trapped by moving conveyor belts in well known in the industry and so it is important suitable guards are in place.
"If the guards the company installed following the incident had been there at the time then it is extremely unlikely the employee's hand would have become trapped."
Information on improving safety in factories is available at:
24th January 2013