An adhesive tape manufacturer has been prosecuted after a 19-year-old agency worker severed his thumb in machinery at a factory in Wellingborough.
The worker had only been working at Latrave Ltd. for three weeks when the incident happened on 25 August 2010.
He was being trained to fix a known problem on a running printing press when his left hand was pulled in between two rollers. He was airlifted to the specialist hand injury unit at Royal Derby Hospital where he had part of his thumb amputated.
He was in hospital for five days and off work for nearly seven months. He still requires physiotherapy and the injury has stopped him pursuing many of his hobbies, including boxing and repairing and riding bicycles.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident found the machine's guard was missing and that the worker was being trained in an unsafe way.
On 16 May 2012, Wellingborough magistrates found Latrave Ltd., of Park Farm Industrial Estate, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The firm was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £14,736.