Romtech Ltd, a manufacturing firm based in Cardiff, has been fined £40,000, after a worker’s arm was seriously hurt when it became trapped in a rotating drill. The incident occurred on 2 February 2009 at Watling Street Business Park in Norton Canes.
Steven Jones, 28, from Staffordshire was using a radial arm drill when his right hand glove became entangled in the rotating drill. His arm got trapped in the drill and broke both bones in his forearm and damaged his muscles. The emergency services had to cut him free when they arrived on the scene.
The firm pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulation 1998 and Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Andrew Bowker, an inspector at HSE, said: “Mr Jones suffered a shocking fracture to his right arm and his injuries may have been much worse if he had not been able to use his left hand to hit the machine’s stop button. The potential safety risks associated with entanglement on radial arm drilling machines have been well known for decades and control measures have been well documented in HSE guidance going back to the 1970s. It is not acceptable that this type of incident is still happening.”