Mixture of overridden interlock and loose overalls causes broken neck

Nuneaton Precisions Ltd, of Nuneaton was fined £11,252 (inc. costs) after an employee broke his neck when he was drawn into an unguarded machine.

The circumstances were:

• Interlocks on a spindle moulder had been rendered ineffective.
• On 18 September 2013, a machinist was machining a piece of nylon when his overalls got tangled in the mchine
• As well as breaking two bones in his neck, the incident left him with a fractured right shoulder and a split ear which required stitches and plastic surgery. 
• He was in hospital for eight days and off work for ten months.  He has since returned to work for the company.

The HSE inspector said:

“This was an horrific incident that left a man with multiple serious injuries. It was also an incident that could and should have been prevented. It is a basic premise of health and safety that workers should not be able to come into contact with dangerous moving parts of machinery. By failing to ensure that the interlocks were maintained, workers were put at risk, and one could have very nearly paid with his life.”