The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Firm fined for safety failures after accident
Inverurie steel fabrication firm, James Moir & Sons Ltd, faced legal repercussions after an incident in which a worker lost two fingers.
The 52-year-old man suffered the injury while working on a metal gate.
While cleaning a tube of metal, his right hand was drawn into and under the tube, trapping it, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
His middle finger was severed in the incident, while his ring finger also had its skin and tissue stripped, meaning it had to be amputated at hospital.
Fiscal depute Catherine Fraser said the incident happened on May 11 2022.
The employee had been fabricating a metal gate and decided to clean a metal tube to remove any imperfections.
To do so, he attached it to a lathe, which rotated the tube, and an emery cloth was then held against the tube.
Ms Fraser said: “He wrapped it in a ‘half turn’ around the tube and, holding it in place with the index fingers and thumbs of both hands, he started the lathe.
“He was wearing rigger gloves during this activity, and while the tube was rotating, his right hand was drawn into and under the tube, trapping it.”
As a result of the injury to his dominant hand, the man was off work on full pay for 14 weeks.
He has since been able to return in the same role.
The company immediately reported the incident, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) led an investigation into it.
The firm had previously used external consultants to prepare a risk assessment and instructions for the use of the lathe.
These specified that gloves were not to be worn while operating the machine – however, they made no reference to the use of emery cloth in conjunction with a lathe.
Ms Fraser said: “It is the employer’s duty to ensure that their employees are aware of the risks and that safety representatives are consulted before implementing any new measures.
“The incident occurred because there was no uniform understanding throughout the company’s employees that the use of hand-held emery cloth in conjunction with a lathe is not an acceptable practice.
“There was no risk assessment in place for the task, and there was no clear, established safe system of work.”
The company admitted failing to have in place a safe system of work for the application of emery cloth to a rotating stock bar and that access was prevented to dangerous parts of the lathe.
Defence agent Malcolm Gunnyeun said the matter was of “regret and concern” to the company.
He went on: “The company takes the health and safety of its employees very seriously.
“It’s accepted the company did not have a safe system of work for this specific task.
“This was a genuine oversight on the part of an otherwise careful employer.”
Sheriff Edward Gilroy said: “Clearly this was an upsetting and traumatic incident for the employee.”
He also praised the company’s prompt reaction to the incident in addressing the failings that led to it and co-operating with the HSE and crown.
He ordered James Moir & Sons to pay a fine totalling £2,075.