Joiner has finger cut off by electric saw
A Southport-based shopfitting firm has been sentenced after one of its employee’s fingers was severed in a rotating saw.
Darren Mawdsley was trimming oak planks at Mentha and Halsall Shopfitters’ factory in April 2010 when a piece of wood caught on the blade of the circular saw, pulling his index finger into the machine.
The 37-year-old from Southport was taken to hospital and his finger was amputated at the knuckle the following day.
North Sefton Magistrates’ Court in Southport was told the guard for the saw was resting on a table at the side of the machine when the worker’s finger was severed.
The HSE investigation found the company had carried out a risk assessment for the saw but this had not been passed on to its employees.
The injured worker had never been given any training by the company on using the saw, and no warning signs were on the machine.
Mentha and Halsall Shopfitters pleaded guilty to safety breaches and was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £3,498 in prosecution costs.
