A Birmingham butcher’s firm and its sole director were today (2 August 2021) ordered to pay £54,653 for health and safety offences after an employee nearly lost a finger while using a band saw.
Younis & Sons Limited, 50 Edgbaston Street, 102 Indoor Market, Birmingham, and its sole director Nadeem Hussain (46) both pleaded guilty to one offence each under Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, at Birmingham Magistrates Court today.
The company was fined £46,800 and ordered to pay to court costs of £3,775 plus a £181 victim surcharge. Hussain received a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay £3,775 in costs plus a £122 victim surcharge.
Birmingham City Council brought the prosecution after a worker on the business’s stall at Birmingham Indoor Market partially amputated his left middle finger while using a band saw on 21 August 2019, due to the saw’s adjustable guard being defective. The employee was taken by ambulance to hospital for treatment.
Shortly after the incident a health and safety inspector from the Council’s Environmental Health team visited the stall and saw an employee using another band saw without the adjustable guard in place and the push guard tied up – this unsafe practice was stopped immediately by the officer and a Prohibition Notice issued.
During today’s hearing, the court heard that Younis & Sons Limited had previously been served with machinery guarding Prohibition Notices in 2017. The company was also warned in 2018 about machinery safety after band saws had been used without the guards.
Cllr Philip Davis, Chair of the city council’s Licensing and Public Protection Committee, said: “Failing to maintain machinery guarding or using it correctly is a well-known cause of employee injuries, which can result in limbs being amputated.
“Officers will continue to take action where minimum standards of health and safety are not met or flouted.”