A company has been fined £2,000 after a worker had to have the tips of two fingers amputated after trapping them in badly-guarded machinery.
Sofidel UK Ltd, of Waterside Road, in Hamilton, was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the 37-year-old employee was hurt while working on a paper converting machine on September 26 last year.
The HSE found the company had failed to properly guard the dangerous moving parts of the machine.
The company, one of Europe's largest tissue and paper towel manufacturers, today pleaded guilty to a single breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £712 in costs.
HSE Inspector Richenda Dixon told Leicester Magistrates' Court that the worker placed his hand inside the converting machine to try to remove a tissue blockage on the belt and pulley drive of the conveyor.
She said: "His hand was trapped and the tips of two fingers on his left hand were so badly injured they had to be amputated.
"When you go to work you expect to come back home with the same number of fingers you left with."
He returned to work at Sofidel after three months on light duties, and resumed normal duties after five months.
She added: "There was no fixed guarding for the belt and pulley drive of the conveyor to prevent access to moving parts of the machine, which had recently been moved to the premises from another of the firm's sites in Leicester."
Lisa Gilligan, for the company, said health and safety was at the top of the company's list since acquiring seven sites in Leicester from former company LPC - which she said had a poor health and safety record - in 2010.
She added: "It's not fair to lay LPC's woeful past at the door of Sofidel. There was a significant challenge changing the mindset of employees over health and safety.
"In terms of health and safety Sofidel has worked hard to put things right. The company genuinely regrets the accident."
Speaking after the hearing, Ms Dixon said: "This incident highlights the dangers posed by machinery and the need to fully re-assess risks from machinery when it is moved from one site to another.
"Sofidel UK Ltd failed to provide suitable guarding and did not take effective measures to prevent access by their workers to the dangerous moving parts.
"Workers should not be injured trying to fix a problem. Having an effective guard on this part of the machine would have prevented this employee from suffering nasty injuries to his hand."
