Company fined after worker's arm gets trapped

A manufacturing company has been fined after an employee had to have his fingers reattached following an accident while cleaning a machine.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated after the man was injured while working a night shift for Tyco Electronics UK Limited in Swindon on 7 March 2023.

The worker managed to pull his arm free after it got trapped in the machine, but ore nerves and tendons and needed three operations to reattach his fingers.

After the HSE investigation the company pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches and was fined £340,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,145 at Bristol Magistrates' Court on Friday.

The HSE said the worker manually raised the hydraulic ram inside the machine and opened the door so that he could reach in to clean the machine.

But, as he withdrew his arm, the door fell and activated the hydraulic ram, which trapped his limb.

The court was told that after spending 10 days in hospital and having physiotheraoy after being discharged, the man still has some loss of sensation and movement in his fingers but has regained some movement in his thumb.

The HSE investigation found that the company "failed to put suitable and sufficient measures in place to prevent employees from being put at risk while cleaning the machine".

The regulator also identified that employees weren't given good enough information on how to clean the machine safely, training was inadequate and staff were not suitably supervised.

Emma Preston, HSE inspector, said: "Machinery accidents during maintenance and cleaning are all too common, often with serious consequences.

"Workers should ensure that machinery is properly isolated from all sources of power so that it cannot restart during the task," she said.

"Incidents like this can and should be prevented by following robust lock-off procedures."

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