Jedburgh firm fined after health and safety breach crushes employee's hand

A Jedburgh firm has been fined £100,000 after an employee crushed his hand by getting it trapped in a socket machine which was without a guard.

Emtelle UK Limited - which makes plastic tubing for telecoms and water piping - pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act at its factory in Oxnam Road in November 2016.

The company admitted the employee was not properly trained or supervised to operate the machine which cuts smaller pieces of piping and that the guard was lying on the floor having fallen off or been removed.

Jedburgh Sheriff Court heard the employee reacted by trying to catch a falling piece of piping but instead his left hand was exposed to part of a clamp in the socket machine and he suffered two broken fingers and a crush injury causing shattered bones and wounds.

The 33-year-old male worker was in hospital for a week and off work until the end of January when he returned to office duties.

He went back to shop floor duties in May this year.

Emtelle's lawyer Ann Bonomy said the company regretted the accident and that senior members of the company would have been in court if it were not for Covid-19 restrictions.

She pointed out the employee had volunteered to operate the machine but he should not have done so.

Ms Bonomy pointed out there had been several health and safety changes at the factory since the accident with new safeguards in place and the company no longer cut pipes to make them short which eradicated the possibility of the accident happening again.

There was no question of the accident happening because of profit seeking.

Ms Bonomy said the culpability of the firm was no higher than medium and in her respectful submission low.

Sheriff Robert Fife fined Emtelle - which has an annual turnover of £114 million - £100,000 for the breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.