Fingers lost in recycling disaster worth £30,000

Two companies have received a fine totalling £30,000 after a worker lost the tips of two fingers whilst repairing a paper shredder.

RCP Macpress, a Shropshire-based engineering firm, and SCA Recycling UK, based in Kent, appeared at the City of London Magistrates’ court on 19th March.

They were each fined £15,000 plus costs following a guilty plea to the charge of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act.

In July 2004, James Adams, together with another RCP Macpress engineer, was visiting an SCA’s Greenwich premises to repair the on-site waste paper recycling machine.

The engineers filled in a risk assessment form before starting repair work on the machine. However, they had only been trained in filling in the form, and not in making a true assessment of the risks.

The machine, known as a ’shredder’, had been damaged by the fork of a forklift truck being put into the machine together with waste paper.

When the engineers attempted to gain access into the machine, two of James Adams’s fingers became stuck behind the 100kg opening panel, resulting in him losing the fingertips on those fingers.

The Health and Safety Inspector in charge of the case, Loraine Charles, said that risk assessment forms are “worthless” unless proper risk assessment training is given to employees.

RCP Macpress have said that since the incident they have made sure that they are at the “forefront” of Health and Safety training.