A CORNISH sawmill has been ordered to pay out more than £50,000 after a worker severed a finger on an unsafe piece of machinery.

Truro Sawmills was fined £40,000 for breaching two laws relating to Health and Safety at work. It also had to pay costs of £15,594 and a victim surcharge of £170 - a total of £55,764 - following a guilty plea from the firm's bosses. 

Plymouth Magistrates' court heard that during an incident on March 20, 2018, an employee of was examining the moving parts at the rear of a saw to check why it had been cutting inaccurately.

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The saw remained in operation while he did so, and his glove became caught in the moving parts causing him to sever his index finger on his left hand.

A subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the regulator for workplace health and safety, found that the company had failed to ensure that adequate training was given to their employees in addition to failing to ensure that access to a cross-cut saw's dangerous moving parts was prevented by the use of a guard.

Truro Sawmills pleaded guilty to the two breaches of employment health and safety law - Regulation 11 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) and Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Melissa Lai-Hung said: “This injury was easily preventable. Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.

“Those in control have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers.”