Plastics worker could have avoided finger injury with protective workwear

A plastics worker from Bury could have avoided a finger injury if he had been wearing protective workwear.

The 43-year-old suffered a damaged index finger on his right hand at Industrial Anti Corrosives Ltd in Dunnockshaw when it came into contact with a rotating blade, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

In 2007 the company had found in a risk assessment that a number of its machines, including the one which caused damage to the individual, needed to have guards fitted. The firm, however, failed to act.

HSE inspectors have subsequently issued three Prohibition Notices to ensure the guards fitted. Industrial Anti-Corrisives Ltd pleaded guilty to breach of Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

"We investigate several incidents every year where workers lose fingers in machinery. It’s only by chance that the worker wasn’t more seriously injured in this case," said HSE inspector David Myrtle.

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