UK hose maker fined after worker’s arm injury

London - A UK hose manufacturer has been fined after an inexperienced agency worker was injured using a lathe at the site, the UK health and safety agency (HSE) announced 17 Sept.

On 20 November 2018, a worker at Novaflex Ltd was operating a lathe at the Bromborough facility when the sleeve of his sweatshirt caught between a pitch wheel and rotating mandrel, pulling his arm into the machine, HSE said.

This resulted in an open fracture of the ulna (long bone found in the forearm) and the radial shaft of his right arm, leaving it permanently weak, HESE added.

Wirral-based Novaflex Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2 and 3 of Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. 

The company was fined £22,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,021.30 by the Liverpool Magistrates’ Court for failing to identify the risk of entrapment or the necessary controls required to avoid it.