Company gets hefty fine over work-related incident

Quickmach Engineering Pressings in Cinderford received a serious fine after one of its workers was involved in a very serious work-related incident, following which he almost lost a finger.

As a media report reveals, the employee, who does not wish to be named, was trying to clear metal debris from a large computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling machine when his right hand slipped and came into contact with a rotating cutter. This cut and almost severed his index finger and the employee had to have two operations.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that an interlock switch to the sliding access door of the machine had been dismantled and deliberately disabled.

Had the interlock switch been working it would not have been possible to enter the machine until the cutter had stopped rotating.

Quickmach Engineering Pressings Ltd, based at the Forest Vale Industrial Estate, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations. It was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £1,121 in costs.

Forbidding members of staff from operating machinery they’ve not been trained to use is one of the key contributing factors to the prevention of work-related injuries, which means that situations such as the one described above can be rather easily avoided by implementing a very solid and reliable human resources management solution. And this is exactly where Time & Attendance South West will prove its worth.

The Course Planner is where employees are booked onto course sessions to obtain skills that they require to perform their duties. Individual employee training records are updated automatically as courses are completed, along with qualifications / certification earned.

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If you’d like to find out more about the extensive range of solutions supplied by Time & Attendance South West, just get in touch with our dedicated product team, they’ll be more than happy to answer any and all queries you might have.