Amtek Aluminium Castings (Whitham) Limited was given a fine for health and safety failings after an employee injured his hand using a rotary drilling machine at work. Mr Andrew Gibson was drilling a hole in a cast when his glove got caught in the spinning motor and his hand was pulled into the drill, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports.
The drill had ripped apart the glove and injured Mr Gibson’s hand before he managed to hit the emergency stop button. An ambulance crew attended to his injury before he was taken to hospital for further treatment, where he required skin grafts for his hand.
The painful and no doubt traumatic experience also led to stiffness and immobility of the injured hand, and consequently Mr Gibson was unable to work for 2 months.
Chelmsford Crown Court was told that the drilling machine came with a safety guard over the drill but it wasn’t in use when Mr Gibson was operating the machinery. In fact, Mr Gibson reportedly had no idea that the safety guard even existed!
Amtek was reprimanded for a series of failings, to which they admitted:
- There wasn’t adequate training for employees – clearly, not knowing how to use dangerous machinery risks the health, safety and lives of the operator and their colleagues.
- There wasn’t enough supervision – when operating dangerous machinery, it is appropriate to have someone else supervise in case the operator can’t see something dangerous about to happen, or if they need assistance in case something goes wrong.
- The safety assessments were not thorough enough – under various Health and Safety laws, risk assessments need to be carried out often and thoroughly. Doing it properly can help employers and employees identify risks or hazards so that appropriate measures can be taken to minimise or eliminate them.
Amtek was found guilty of breaching their legal duties under s2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was given a fine of £250,000 and ordered to pay costs of £12,632.92. They failed to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees by providing a safe workplace.
Not the first time…
The Crown Court was not pleased to find out that a very similar incident had happened recently prior to this one. Although no one was seriously injured, Amtek should have seen it as a clear warning and taken measures to stop an accident occurring.
Sadly, they didn’t.
Judge Christopher Morgan said:
“This was a serious failure on behalf of the defendant for not learning from previous incidents, and that left in the condition that it was, could have severe impact on other workers’ safety, with the incident causing extreme harm to Mr Gibson.”
Even though Amtek was given a hefty quarter million pound fine, their injured employee has a right to seek his own financial compensation from them too. Mr Gibson may be eligible for thousands in work injury compensation for the pain, suffering, and loss of amenity arising out of the incident.
If you want to learn more about making a work compensation claim then you can contact The Injury Lawyers by filling out our form below or by calling us free from a landline or mobile on 0800 634 7575.