An employee at a multi-national automotive firm might be tempted to make an injury claim after he lost part of his finger while at work.
The 37-year-old was cleaning debris from the rotating drive wheel of a foam slicing machine when the blade severed half the index finger from his right hand. Since the employee was right-handed, he now has a number of problems carrying out everyday tasks and writing is painful and difficult.
Following the incident, which occurred in 2009, the victim was off work for five months and, while he eventually returned to the company, has since moved to a different job.
Recently, an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) saw the employer plead guilty to breaching regulations 8(1) and 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulation 1998. The company has been fined £5,500 and ordered to pay costs of £2,858. However, the man injured might want to consider bringing a personal injury claim himself for the issue.
HSE inspector Mark Austin commented: “The requirement to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery is long-standing, as is the need to ensure that workers have proper instructions and information when operating machinery.
“This type of factory incident remains far too common and employers have no excuse for failing to deal with such obvious risks to health and safety.”