Personal injury news roundup: 7 days ended 12 Feb 2013:
It’s been a bad week for the UK arm of a major motor vehicle manufacturer, as they faced prosecution and eventual fines for a personal injury at work.
Personal injury claim specialists report that Honda UK has gotten itself into trouble in the wake of an incident involving the loss of two fingers from the hand of one of its workers. Cesar Santos, a fifty five year old employee, had been going about his duties in using a piece of emery cloth to polish a piece of metal as it spun on a lathe at the Swindon-based car manufacturer plant, injury claims experts say, when his glove caught in the machinery and dragged his hand within, resulting in the loss of two of his fingers and a six week recovery period before he could return once more to his job.
The incident was investigated by inspectors sent out by the Health and Safety Executive, which discovered – much to Honda UK’s chagrin – that the firm had neglected to provide a safe system of working to its employees. On top of that, the company was found to have also blatantly ignored their own glove policy – a policy that expressly forbids employees from wearing gloves while operating machines at the plant.
The HSE dragged Honda UK into Swindon Magistrates’ Court after discovering the firm’s secret shame, prosecuting them to the point where Honda simply admitted to breaching health and safety regulations. Honda UK received a weighty £10,000 fine for its sins, though experts say there could be even more costs in the firm’s future if the injured Mr Santos makes a claim for personal injury compensation.
In the wake of the hearing at Swindon Magistrates’ Court, an inspector for the HSE remarked that if Honda UK had simply made sure that its policy of not allowing gloves to be worn by anyone operating machinery, the entire incident could have all too easily been completely avoided.