The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today urged employers to risk assess work involving woodworking machines to ensure they are appropriately guarded and operators are adequately trained.

The call follows the prosecution of an Oxfordshire-based company after an employee suffered serious and permanent injuries to two of his fingers.

At Maidenhead Magistrates' Court on Friday, Julian Christian Designs Ltd, based in Chalgrove, pleaded guilty to contravening regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and were fined £1,000. They pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 11(1)(a) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and were fined £2,000. They were also ordered to pay costs of £2,500.

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The prosecution came after an investigation by the HSE following an incident in Cookham, Maidenhead on 18 July 2007. An employee was using an inverted, unguarded router to machine pieces of wood. Whilst using the router, which was rotating at over 8,000 revolutions per minute, the employee's glove got caught in the cutter tool and pulled his hand into the cutter - amputating the top joint of his ring finger and cutting the middle finger to the bone.

The company had not carried out a risk assessment for the work being undertaken and the cutter piece was not adequately guarded. Also, the injured employee was untrained in the use of woodworking machines and only had limited experience.

David Bibby, HSE Inspector, said: "This case demonstrates the importance of firstly ensuring machinery is adequately guarded and people are trained to use it safely, but also of taking a step back and looking at what is being done to ensure appropriate controls are in place, hence the importance of suitable and sufficient risk assessments."

(JM/BMcC)