Firm fined after staff member gets battered as clothes snag in machine

Tomas Cisarik’s clothes were ripped from him and he was left with a gaping 20cm gash in his back, severe friction burns and a cracked foot bone when his hooded top caught in machine part spinning at 300RPM.

The 33-year-old Dewsbury man was working for Batley firm P Craven Engineering Company Limited at its Heckmondwike factory in September last year.

He was clearing metal shavings from the machine when the accident happened.

The company admitted breaching its general duty to employees by failing to prevent access to a dangerous part of the machine, when it appeared before Kirklees Magistrates. But the court also heard that bosses told Mr Cisarik to turn the machine off before cleaning it and staff were told not to wear hooded tops.

Magistrates ordered the firm, of Woodlands Road, to pay a £5,000 fine and £2,302 costs.

After the hearing, Mr Cisarik said he had been working alone, but colleagues heard his screams and called for help.

“You could see my kidney, my ribs, my spine,” he said. “It was an open wound. I’m really lucky that I’m not paralysed, or dead.”

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