News

A worker's finger crushed by 40 tonne press

Magistrates sitting at Bury St Edmunds heard press operator Peter McCormick was using a metalworking power press at solenoid manufacturer H.E. & B.S. Benson Ltd in November 2008.

The company, based at Laureate Industrial Estate, Newmarket was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £4,356 in costs after it admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.He leaned into the machine to reach for a component when his right index finger was crushed between the two halves of the press tool. An employee had to have his finger amputated between the first and second joints.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the machine did not have all its safety guards fitted, which would have prevented access to the moving parts.

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