In an incident that may result in a work accident claim being brought against his employer, one Ipswich printing company worker suffered serious injuries to his right hand from an unguarded stacking machine.
Accident claim specialists report that John Stagg, aged forty, had been employed by Ancient House Press as a print manager at the time of the incident. Mr Stagg had been present at the firm’s Hadleigh Road Industrial Estate site, where he was trying to remove a blockage on the conveyor belt of the stacking machine, when his hand had become trapped within it after being caught upon its toothed cogs.
The print manager sustained serious hand injuries in the accident, including a severed middle finger and a broken index finger. The forty year old man’s injuries had been so serious that he needed plastic surgery, and his convalescence lasted for seven months straight, according to personal injury compensation experts.
The Government’s Health and Safety Executive began investigating the incident shortly thereafter, revealing that the guard that prevented access to the underside of the machine had gone missing. HSE inspectors also found that no fewer than twenty safety devices and guards on other machines throughout the factory had either been disabled or outright removed.
Ancient House Press plc was brought before Ipswich Magistrates’ Court by the HSE, where the firm, located on Whittle Road, was given a fine of £7,500 for its role in Mr Stagg’s injuries. Ancient House Press also admitted to breaching the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations.
In a statement given in the aftermath of the hearing, one inspector for the HSE was heard to say that the incident had been completely preventable. Machines come with a myriad of standard safety features, he added, to avert just this type of accident at work.