A company has been fined after a young worker, 25, was severely injured when her hair was ripped out by poorly guarded machinery. She was sorting clothes hangers on a conveyor when her scarf and hair became caught in the chain and sprocket drive of the belt as she bent over to remove accumulated hangers. She sustained serious throat injuries, lost a substantial part of her hair and fractured a finger in the incident. She needed a number of operations and was in hospital for three months. HSE found the company had fitted a guard to the conveyor but it did not fully enclose the dangerous moving parts. There was no emergency stop button on the conveyor which could have lessened the impact of the incident. In addition, the company’s risk assessment failed to identify the dangers of entanglement in conveyors, and the need to keep hair and loose clothing secure when near the machinery was poorly enforced. Click “read more” below to see the accident scene photo (WARNING! GRAPHIC CONTENT)
SCALPING ACCIDENT (WARNING! Graphic Photo)
