Man looses hand in unguarded machine

The Stuffing Plant Ltd, a soft toy filling company was fined £37,486 (inc.costs) after a worker lost a hand in an unguarded machine.

The circumstances were:

• The accident occurred on a carding machine which had attachments left the discharge chute off to allow it to supply loose fibre to other machines.
• This meant that a spiked discharge roller was accessible.
• On 8 March 2016 a worker was attempting to clear a blockage.
• The machine was still operating which meant that the spike roller was rotating.
• This grabbed his left hand, drawing him into the machine and severing most of his fingers. 
• He was airlifted to hospital where surgeons amputated his hand from the wrist due to the seriousness of his injuries.

The HSE inspector said:
“This man’s life changing injuries could have been prevented if a suitable and sufficient planning had been completed and the correct control measures were identified and implemented. The consequences of leaving off the flange and discharge pipework were foreseeable and could have easily been prevented.”