HSE WM/135/08 16 May 2008

HSE warns employers to assess risks properly after worker loses finger in unguarded circular saw

Employers are being warned, by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), to ensure they assess workplace machinery risks properly to ensure they have adequate safeguards in place. Warning follows HSE’s prosecution of a fence manufacturing company in Cresswell, Staffordshire after the index finger of a worker’s right hand was sliced off by an unguarded circular saw.

The Fence Factory Ltd was fined a total of £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,645 at Stafford Magistrates’ Court (on 15th May, 2008) after the company pleaded guilty to breaching S3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The case followed an HSE investigation into an incident on 21 May 2007 at Riverside, Blythe Valley Business Base in Cresswell. An agency worker suffered the loss of his index finger and damage to his little finger while using an unguarded circular saw to cut lengths of timber.

Speaking after the case, HSE investigating inspector Wayne Owen said:

"Allowing machines to be operated without suitable and appropriate guards is ignoring basic safety principles, an act which cannot go unpunished.

When operating such machines the level of danger to the operator and other persons nearby cannot be overstated. A high-speed revolving blade, that is sharp enough to slice through wood, is an obvious risk. It is for this reason that extra care must be taken to ensure that the operator is well trained and that the saw is well maintained and properly used. HSE produces a wide range of guidance to assist companies who use woodworking machines to identify risks to themselves and their employees."

The HSE investigation found that the company had failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the machine that should have identified the need for guarding. Adequate training should also have been given for the operation of the circular saw.

Notes to editors

1. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety".
2. Further information on work equipment and machinery in the workplace can be found on the HSE website at:  http://www.hse.gov.uk/equipment/index.

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