William Lee Ltd., fined £66,000 for finger amputation after machine restarted during blockage clearing

Foundry company William Lee Ltd., was fined £66,000 (inc.costs) after an employee had two fingers amputated while attempting to clear a blockage in a moulding machine.

• On 28 February 2018, an employee was attempting to clear a blockage of sand in a moulding machine.
• No risk assessment of blockage clearing had been carried out.
• There were no safe systems of work or training for this operation.
• The employee was using a length of metal rod and had not isolated the machine
• The blockage cleared without warning.
• The employee’s right hand was crushed between the rod and the machine.
• This resulted in two fingers being amputated, and a number of fractured bones

The HSE inspector said:
“If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the life changing injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”