A COMPANY has been fined £250,000 after health and safety failures caused a worker to have his hand mangled in a rotary drill.

Amtek Aluminium Casting Witham admitted failing to provide training, instructions and a risk assessment for workers in breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The company was fined £250,000 for failing to provide adequate training and safety assessments for some of its workers.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard general operator Andrew Gibson had his hand snagged in a rotary drill.

Trevor Archer, prosecuting, said: “Mr Gibson was operating the mill when the glove on his right hand snagged on one of the rotating components, causing his hand to be exposed to the drill.

“He managed to flip the emergency stop and was treated at the scene by an ambulance crew and was then taken to Broomfield Hospital.

“He required surgery and skin grafts to his hand, causing severe stiffness and immobility, causing him to be away from work for two months.”

Mr Archer told the court a similar incident happened on the mill on November 26 that year, though the worker did not suffer serious injuries.

He added: “An inspection was carried out which found that adequate training had not been given by the defendant to its workers, safety and risk assessments had not been thoroughly carried out and that the guards on the rotary drill were not working properly.

“Mr Gibson also has stated he was not aware there were protective guards for the drill when he first received instructions on how to operate it.”

Mitigation for Amtek said the company regretted the incident and precautions have since been put in place and that it has not happened again.

Passing sentence, Judge Christopher Morgan said: “This was a serious failure on behalf of the defendant for not learning from previous incidents, and that left in the condition that it was, could have severe impact on other workers’ safety, with the incident causing extreme harm to Mr Gibson.

“The defendant deserves mitigation for full co-operation to resolve the matter, and its efforts for putting in place adequate measures that have ensured the incident has not happened again.

“I therefore impose a fine of £250,000.”

“On December 16 2014 Andrew Gibson was attending his duties at the company, who metal components, and was operating a vertical mill with a rotary drill which shapes metal castings.

“Which this machine, there is a guard installed for safety, however, post-incident inspections found this was not in place.