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A North Yorkshire company has been fined under safety laws after a supervisor suffered severe injuries to his hand.
The man, who does not want to be named, had his right hand crushed with two fingers severed when he attempted to clean an air slide under a large machine used for mixing animal feed.
Northallerton Magistrates' Court was told that the incident happened on 10 August 2010 at One Feed Supplements Ltd of North Hill, Dishforth Airfield, Thirsk.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution, told the court the man had been told by a production worker at the start of his shift that the air slide was not operating, a regular problem owing to a build-up of sticky feed deposits on the slide and runners.
The supervisor went to inspect the machine and decided to clean the slide. After climbing a set of moveable steps, he reached up to undertake the work and was injured as his hand came into contact with dangerous moving parts of the machine.
After the hearing HSE Inspector Paul Newton said the injured supervisor had lost two fingers of his dominant hand, suffered nerve damage to the rest of his hand and would have to live with a disability for the rest of his life. He has not returned to work.
He added: "The risk from contact with moving parts of machinery is well known in industry and should have been more so to this company as it was prosecuted in 2007 when another employee was injured undertaking maintenance on an energised machine.
"In this case the company failed to make sure that measures were in place to prevent the movement of dangerous parts of the machine before any worker got too close – within the known danger zone.
"The supervisor, despite having some two months’ training at the firm, was not adequately trained in how to clean the air slide or how to safely isolate the machine.
"Maintenance-related incidents are of particular concern as employees are often required to work without usual safeguards in place – thus putting added emphasis on relying on a safe system of work. A. One Feed did not have adequate information or instructions and because of that, a man has suffered a lifelong disability."
(CD)
