Boss ordered to pay £17k compensation after worker's fingers chopped off at Manvers firm

Andrew Gibson (42) was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, for health and safety breaches for the incident on October 19, 2016, when he appeared before Sheffield Magistrates’ Court.

He was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the employee who became injured was using an Elektra Beckum table saw to cut down some large (2.4m x 2.4m) sheets of chipboard at a workshop in Houndhill Park, Manvers, at the time.

Three fingers on his right hand were severed by the unguarded saw blade, the court heard.

After the incident, the man was taken to hospital by Gibson.

Two of his fingers were reattached at the hospital but the third finger was never found, the HSE said.

An HSE investigation found that the worker had been pushing the sheets through the saw by hand without using an appropriate pushstick or jig which would have kept his hand and fingers away from the moving blade.

At the time of the incident there was no crown guard or riving knife fixed to the machine, the HSE said.

The investigation also found that there was no Employer’s Liability (Compulsory Insurance) policy in place.

Gibson, of Lower Dolcliffe Road, Mexborough, who at the time was trading as Crosby Kitchens, admitted breaching health and safety laws.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Jane Fox said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided by implementing suitable control measures and safe working practices.

“Dangerous parts of machinery should be appropriately guarded as required by the legislation, in order to protect employees.”

Speaking after the hearing, Gibson said the company he previously traded as, Crosby Kitchens Limited, no longer existed.

He said the previous company traded at Houndhill Park in Manvers and was a separate organisation to a new firm based in Goldthorpe, also called Crosby Kitchens, where he now worked.

He said he was neither a director nor a shareholder in the new company and declined to comment further.