FOUR FINGERS Plastics recycling worker Wesley Dickinson lost four fingers as a result of the negligence of his employer. The firm received a small fine.
A UK plastics recycling company has been fined £2,500 after a worker had four of his fingers severed.
Wesley Dickinson, 22, was trying to remove a guillotine jam at Centriforce Products Ltd in Liverpool when his fingers became trapped. Doctors reattached two of his fingers, but they have limited movement.
The company, which admitted breaching safety regulations, said it regretted the accident in May 2008. Centriforce was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the incident and was fined £2,500 this month by Liverpool magistrates and ordered to pay £2,438 in costs.
HSE inspector Martin Paren said: “This incident has had a devastating impact on Mr Dickinson, who is only in his early 20s. He cannot return to his old job and will not be able to do manual work in the foreseeable future, due to the limited strength and movement in his right hand.”
He added: “The company should have had a guard on the guillotine to prevent workers from reaching the blade. An automatic mechanism should also have been in place so that the power was cut if the guard was opened. Instead Mr Dickinson wrongly assumed that a colleague had switched the guillotine off, and he had four fingers cut off as a result.”
Four digit fine for four digit loss
FOUR FINGERS Plastics recycling worker Wesley Dickinson lost four fingers as a result of the negligence of his employer. The firm received a small fine.
A UK plastics recycling company has been fined £2,500 after a worker had four of his fingers severed.
Wesley Dickinson, 22, was trying to remove a guillotine jam at Centriforce Products Ltd in Liverpool when his fingers became trapped. Doctors reattached two of his fingers, but they have limited movement.
The company, which admitted breaching safety regulations, said it regretted the accident in May 2008. Centriforce was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the incident and was fined £2,500 this month by Liverpool magistrates and ordered to pay £2,438 in costs.
HSE inspector Martin Paren said: “This incident has had a devastating impact on Mr Dickinson, who is only in his early 20s. He cannot return to his old job and will not be able to do manual work in the foreseeable future, due to the limited strength and movement in his right hand.”
He added: “The company should have had a guard on the guillotine to prevent workers from reaching the blade. An automatic mechanism should also have been in place so that the power was cut if the guard was opened. Instead Mr Dickinson wrongly assumed that a colleague had switched the guillotine off, and he had four fingers cut off as a result.”