Worker's lost fingers costs bossesTwo former metal fabricating company directors have been fined £2,000 after a 57-year-old worker's fingers were crushed by a hydraulic press.
The employee lost the tips of two fingers in the incident, which took place at Lupton Fabrications Ltd, Leeds, in April last year.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation discovered equipment designed to protect staff from the machine's closing tools was not operational at the time, and was only turned on again after the HSE served Lupton with a prohibition notice.
Photoelectric detectors on the press, which are known as light curtains, had been regularly over-ridden for several years while the firm was owned by Dennis Brunt and Peter Critchard.
Leeds magistrates found both former directors guilty of breaching regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, and found their new company, Stealsafe Ltd, guilty of the same offence. The two directors and Stealsafe Ltd were jointly fined £2,001 and ordered to pay £250 costs.
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