Sweet factory worker loses finger
17/08/2011
A worker at a sweet manufacturing plant had part of his finger sliced off after trying to remove a blockage in a production line machine.
Tangerine Confectionery Ltd was ordered to pay a fine of £3,400 and £4,568 in prosecution costs at Blackpool Magistrates' Court in relation to the work accident on September 8, 2008.
The un-named 25-year-old's left hand was pulled into the machine while he tried to sort out a blockage in the system at the site in Clifton Road, Marton, Blackpool. His index finger was severed to the top knuckle in the incident.
He needed five months off work after doctors failed to reattach the end of his fingers as the nerves were crushed too badly.
Bosses at Tangerine Confectionery, of Vicarage Lane, Blackpool, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 after they failed to make sure the machine stopped operating when the guard was not in place.
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