A company in Bradford has been fined £120,000 after an employee's hand was amputated by a machine he was trained on for just a few minutes.
The 22-year-old casual worker at RDB Fabrication and Engineering went to operate machine used to bend metal called a 'press brake'. He had not used it before, and was given only 10 minutes' training. The machine was fitted with an electronic motion guard that should have stopped it moving if someone's hand, arm or other part of their body entered the danger zone.
However, when the employee reached into the machine to move a part, the detector didn't work, and his left hand was amputated when the pressing tool came down on his wrist. The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for breaching Regulation 11(b) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to ensure the machine was adequately guarded. As well as the fine, it was ordered to pay £2,000 costs.
