The 59-year-old worker, at Cammell Laird Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders, had been repairing a lathe at the time of the incident in July 2015. While completing the repair, he noticed that the shafts and couplings were dirty. He attempted to clean them by wrapping an emery cloth around the lead screw and turning the lathe on. As the machine got up to speed, his hand was pulled into the moving parts. He suffered fractures and crush injuries to his hand, which resulted in him being signed off work for five months.
The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which prosecuted Cammell Laird for serious safety failings. The company’s risk assessment ‘failed to identify the risks involved in the common practice of using emery cloth on moving parts’, said the HSE. It also found that most workers at the yard took maintenance into their own hands, instead of referring any tasks that needed doing to the maintenance team.
“Maintenance was being carried out on machinery which was energised whilst someone was in the dangerous part of that machine,” said HSE inspector Karen Fearon after the hearing. “There was no lock off, poor control and poor management.”
Cammell Laird Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. They were fined £400,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,683.
