A man employed at an Edinburgh-based sawmill suffered serious injuries at work and may make a claim for accident compensation as a result.
The man was working at Windymains Timber Ltd in Humbie when the machine he was in charge of became blocked. The piece of equipment – known as a drop sorter – was processing large logs into planks at the time of the accident.
The worker had been attempting to unblock the machine and had climbed onto the conveyor belt to do so. When the two planks that he was trying to kick out of the way moved, the conveyor belt started moving as it had not been switched off. The man's leg was dragged into the machine as a result and he remained trapped there for almost two hours.
Upon his release, it was found that he had suffered severe nerve damage as well as fracturing his leg in three places.
Following the incident, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out an investigation which revealed that the machine the man was working on did not have sufficient guarding to prevent accidents from occurring.
An HSE inspector said, “The incident was totally preventable. Had the company carried out a risk assessment of the procedure for unblocking the machine, they would have realised that the machines guarding was not adequate.”
Windymains Timber Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Health and Safety Regulations and was fined £20,000.