Safety breach costs tissue firm £10,000

AN Oldham-based tissue manufacturer has been fined £10,000 for safety failings after an employee lost the tops of two fingers in machinery.

Rose Tissues, which processes and prints kitchen roll and toilet paper at its plant on Sefton Street in Hollinwood, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident on May 17, last year.

Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard how the 35-year-old employee, from Oldham, had been trying to stop paper sticking to a 22ft-wide print roller by attempting to clean it with a cloth while the machine was operating.

As he did this, the cloth became trapped between two rotating rollers, dragging in his right hand. He spent four days in hospital undergoing surgery to his hand, but lost the tops of two fingers.

The HSE investigation found that two of the guards on the machine, which should have prevented workers’ hands being trapped by the rollers, had been removed at least a year before the incident.

Electronic safety locks and cut-outs had been deliberately bypassed. No formal checks had been carried out on the machine.

The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £8,000 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to failing to guard the machine.