Health and Safety Executive summarizes a case where an employee received scalping injuries as her hair became entangled in a pillar drill.
The incident
An engineering company has been fined after one of its employees suffered scalping injuries when her hair became entangled in a pillar drill.
Coventry Magistrates’ Court heard how on 10 September 2019, a P&D Engineering Limited employee suffered life changing injuries when her scalp and part of her ear were torn off after her ponytail became wrapped around a rotating drill.
In the months following the incident she underwent surgery nine times involving skin grafts to re-construct her scalp. Her ear was also amputated.
Findings
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the rotating parts of the drill were not guarded in accordance with standard industry practice.
The investigation also found that P&D Engineering Limited’s own risk assessment for using the drill had identified a guard should be fitted, but evidence obtained indicated the drill had been operated without one for a number of years.
P&D Engineering Limited of Crondal Road, Exhall, Coventry pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. They were fined £62,334 and ordered to pay costs of £1,459.90.
Lessons learned
- The rotating parts of the drill were not guarded in accordance with standard industry practice;
- The company’s own risk assessment for using the drill had identified a guard should be fitted, but evidence obtained indicated the drill had been operated without one for a number of years.
