A dad suffered severe injuries and had to have his left arm amputated at the elbow after it was dragged into a machine.
Daniel Hartshorn, an employee of Joloda Conveyor Services Ltd, was pulled into the machine while carrying out repairs for one of the Speke-based firm’s customers. He suffered severe crush injuries that led to him having his left arm amputated at the elbow.
Mr Hartshorn, who is originally from Blackburn but now lives in Preston, said: “I haven’t been able to return to work since it happened. I am in constant pain and the trauma of my injuries and the financial impact of not working has severely affected my mental health.
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“It all happened so quickly. I thought I was going to die at one point.”
Mr Hartshorn was repairing a conveyor at a premises in Preston on February 10, 2021. Guards had been removed while the machine was still running and his arm was pulled into the machinery.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found a similar incident had occurred a few months before, but the company had not sufficiently learnt from this or implemented any precautions. The investigation identified that failings in supervision and training meant safe methods for working on the conveyor were not followed.
Mr Hartshorn, a dad of four, added: “If you were to dream this of a night, when you wake up, you’d call it a nightmare. The worst thing is, I’m still having treatment two years down the line.
I"’m on so many different types of medication – the only way I can describe how I feel is it’s like having a phantom hand. In some ways I’ve got used to the pain, but it’s obviously still not nice.”
Joloda Conveyor Services Limited, of De Havilland Drive, Speke, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £5,854 in costs at Sefton Magistrates’ Court on March 22, 2023.
HSE Inspector Matthew Shepherd said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided. Where employees work remotely companies should ensure they are robustly trained and monitored so that the work is undertaken safely.
“It is important that machines are properly isolated from power before being worked on.”
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