Lancashire Couple In Court After Repeated Injuries

A Lancashire couple has been prosecuted after an employee was seriously injured twice in less than two months at a pine furniture workshop.

Simon Davies, from Bacup, was cutting a small groove into a pine door in July 2009 when it shot out of the machine, forcing his left hand onto a rotating blade. The 21-year-old's index finger was badly cut, most of his nail was removed and the bone was broken.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Kenneth Bramhall, 51, and Gill Brown, 65, who run Village Pine on Newchurch Road in Bacup, for failing to provide suitable training for employees, and for not adequately controlling the risk to workers of being injured.

Reedley Magistrates' Court in Burnley heard that, just three weeks before the July incident, HSE had issued seven enforcement notices after Mr Davies suffered similar injuries from a circular saw.

The notices required specific improvements to be made at the workshop, and work on the unguarded and unsafe saw to be stopped completely.

Michael Mullen, the investigating inspector at HSE, said: "It is regrettable that a worker was badly injured twice in less than two months because basic health and safety measures were not in place. Mr Davies has now left the joinery profession as a result of the injuries he suffered.

"We had no other choice but to prosecute following the second incident, which could easily have been prevented."

Both Mr Bramhall and Ms Brown were each fined £6,000. They were also both ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation to Mr Davies, and £2,000 each towards prosecution costs on 30 September 2010.

(BMcN/CD)