Man Suffers Serious Foot Injuries In Work Accident

A ducting manufacturing company has been ordered to pay almost £20,000 after an employee had a toe severed and suffered other serious foot injuries in an accident at work.

The employee was working for Hotchkiss Ltd in Wombourne when a forming head fell on him, causing broken and dislocated bones, as well as severing a toe.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the company had not carried out a suitable risk assessment of the forming machine or noted that the need for lifting equipment when changing forming heads.

Hotchkiss Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act at Stafford Magistrates' Court over the incident that occurred in July. The company was fined £14,000 and ordered to pay £5,718 costs.

Investigating inspector Wayne Owen said: "It was clear the company had failed to ensure that the risk to those people who used the two flat oval machines at the premises were sufficiently assessed and that the risks were then properly controlled. This incident is the culmination of these failures."

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David Urpeth from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: “I welcome the fine imposed following this work accident.

“It is vital that employers adequately assess and control any risks of injury faced by their employees.

“It is clear that in this particular case, the employers failed to do so and this led to the injuries sustained in this accident at work.”