Recycling plant fined after worker suffers injuries to his hand
- Dec 14, 2015
- EmmaArnold
Another waste recycling plant in the North West has been fined after a worker injured his hand.
Richard Painter was working in a waste sorting area at Recycling Lives Limited in Preston, picking waste from a conveyor, when his hand was drawn into a running nip in between the conveyor.
He cleaned the waste during a machine stoppage but it restarted, which caused him to suffer a broken right arm and three crushed fingers.
This comes after a previous waste recycling plant was fined where our client suffered a severe injury to his arm, causing amputation.
Our client was working at the plant as a fabricator welder through an agency, when he was asked to repair a vibrating block on a moving conveyor belt.
As Philip was working under the conveyor belt, his right hand became snagged in it. His hand was pulled into a tail roller and was severed.
He was rushed to Whiston Hospital and attempts were made to re-attach his severed hand. However, those attempts failed and Philip has had his limb amputated below the elbow and he is currently waiting for a functional prosthesis from Aintree hospital.
Richard Edwards, Senior Solicitor at PotterReesDolan, said:
It is very sad indeed to hear of yet another serious accident suffered by a worker in the waste and recycling industry. The absence of proper guarding on conveyor belts presents unacceptably high risks to the safety of all workers but, unfortunately, is something that still crops up as I have seen in my own case-load recently. The lamentable safety record in this industry continues to give rise to serious concern.