Employee Hurt On First Day

The case of a worker who lost parts of two fingers on his first day of employment at a metal forming company highlights how seriously machine guarding must be taken, a work accident specialist has warned.

JKL Industrial Services Ltd has been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs over the incident in October 2009, when the 19-year-old recruit’s left hand became trapped in a power press just three hours into his first shift.

The employee suffered serious hand injuries in the incident which led to his middle and ring fingers being amputated at the first joint.

A subsequent investigation highlighted that JKL Industrial Services Ltd failed to provide adequate guarding on the process. 

David Urpeth, national head of workplace injuries at Irwin Mitchell, said: “This industrial accident case is very similar to many of those that we handle, in which employees have faced suffering due to errors that could have easily been avoided.

“Time and again we see these incidents in which firms have failed in the simple act of adding the correct guarding to machinery and, time and again, it leads to serious injuries.

“Lessons need to be learnt from these incidences to ensure that the right protection is provided to workers, which in turn, should help to prevent anyone else suffering injuries in an industrial accident in the future.”