A company has been fined £6,000 after one of its employees suffered a serious injury during an accident at work.
WCM Europe - which is based in Essex but also has operations in Germany - pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 during a case at Basildon Magistrates' Court after it was prosecuted following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The case related to an incident in which a worker got his finger caught in a mechanical blade as he was sawing a block of plastic at the firm's plant in Essex.
Consequently, the employee suffered permanent nerve damage to his middle digit and was told that he could have lost it had the machine been running at a faster speed at the time of the accident.
Toni Drury, HSE inspector, stated: "WCM Europe Limited failed to make sure that only properly trained employees had access and authorisation to use the saw."
