A firm specialising in supplying agricultural machinery and vehicles has been fined after a teenager on paid work experience nearly lost the tips of his fingers in unguarded machinery.
The injured youngster, who was employed by Haynes Brothers, had been told to work alongside an experienced engineer to carry out a pre-delivery inspection of a new combine header unit at a company site in Great Chart, Ashford, Kent, when the incident happened on 16 July 2013.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the company after an investigation concluded that no suitable risk assessment had been carried out for the young worker, and that he had not been given any advice on where to stand while work was being carried out.
Canterbury Magistrates heard on 2 June that HSE inspectors found that the boy had been asked to disconnect the drive shaft at the rear of the combine unit so the engineer could rotate the auger to check the clearance.
Having disconnected the shaft, the young man moved to the front of the machine so that he could see what the engineer was doing and leant over in order to get a better view.
The engineer was not aware that the youngster had moved, and rotated the auger that the 16-year-old was balancing himself by placing his hand on the cutter bar. The top of his left hand's index finger and right hand's middle finger were badly cut as a result of the incident.
Fortunately, the finger tips were not completely severed, and they could be reattached. However, the boy has suffered from ongoing difficulties with gripping and numbness as a result.
Haynes Brothers, of Ashford Road, Maidstone, Kent, was fined a total of £18,000, and ordered to pay £4,698 in costs after pleading guilty to breaches of section 3(4) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and section 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Kevin Golding said: “The young trainee was not given adequate information, instruction and training to carry out his work safely and sadly his lack of awareness of the dangers led to him being injured.
“It is important that employers consider that younger employees may lack experience and awareness of hazards in the workplace compared to other employees and make changes to the workplace and tasks as appropriate.”
