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Sirane fined £8k after guillotine severs worker's fingers

Absorbant packaging specialist Sirane has been fined £8,083 after an automatic guillotine sliced the tips off an employee's fingers.

Editha Bayliss was operating the guillotine on 6 November 2009 when she put her hand under the guard of the machine to clear a blockage from the cutting area while the machine was still running.

The blade came down on Bayliss’s hand and severed the tips of two fingers that had to be surgically amputated down to the first joint. Bayliss has since returned to work.

Telford-based Sirane was ordered to put a stop on the machine until it could be made safe.

Magistrates fined the firm £6,000 and ordered it to pay £2,083 in costs for contravening the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

Health and Safety Executive Katherine Walker said that a risk assessment carried out four months before the incident had identified the need for improved guarding.

"The company failed to implement this and knowingly allowed the machine to be sued with inadequate safeguards. The poor standard of guarding on this machine led directly to Editha’s debilitating injuries," said Walker.

In a statement to Packaging News, Sirane managing director Simon Balderson said: "All of us at Sirane were very upset about this accident. We have an excellent safety record and safety has always been our top priority.

"The machine involved in this case was one of the 46 that we acquired as part of our acquisition of the Thomas and Green absorbency business. While the guarding of these machines was good, it was not up to Sirane standards and our Engineering team have been working hard to improve the guarding and general safety level of these machines.

"This particular machine was fully guarded and interlocked but one of the guards was not really long enough to prevent access to parts of the machine. One of our operators was able to reach inside and she lost the tip of two fingers."