Tyrone engineering company fined £25,000 after employee suffered serious hand injuries

The company had earlier pleaded guilty to a single health and safety offence, and it followed an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI),

Craigavon Crown Court heard that on October 10 2022, an employee sustained serious hand injuries while using emery cloth at an automatic lathe. A metal component had been placed into the automatic lathe and the emery cloth was applied by hand for the purposes of removing rust.

It was further established that the interlocking doors to the lathe had been bypassed meaning the lathe could be operated with the doors open.

HSENI Inspector, Gavin Rowan said: “Employers have a legal duty to ensure employees and others are not put at risk from unguarded machinery.

“Serious incidents involving the use of emery cloth at metalworking lathes are common and result in injuries such as broken bones, dislocations, and amputations.

“It is never acceptable to apply emery cloth directly by hand on a rotating automatic or manual metal working machine.”

"Emery cloth is a type of abrasive paper or sandpaper, that can be used to debur, polish or size a wide range of metal components while held in the rotating chuck jaws of a lathe. Emery cloth should never be applied directly by hand to manual or automatic lathes".

Caledon Precision Engineering have been asked for a comment.