A TEENAGER was left with flashbacks and phantom pain after losing his finger in a machine at a Herefordshire pet food company. 

Finer by Nature director Gary Pitchford was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, while the company was fined £34,000 at a hearing before magistrates in Kidderminster earlier this month.

The Health and Safety Executive, which brought the case to court, has revealed that the victim, who was 16 at the time, was working his first shift at the Whitestone Business Park site when the incident happened. 

He had been hired by Finer by Nature after leaving school, the HSE said, starting work there on July 15.

But, while helping another worker to operate a food processing machine used to package dog food, the young worker was told to stand on a stepladder and put his hands into the hopper bowl to scrape meat into the base, where there were dangerous moving parts of machinery,

This led to his middle finger being severed by the machine, the HSE said. He had two operations to close off the wound following the incident and stayed in hospital for six days in total.

The male said in a statement: “The emotional effect on me has been huge. At 16-years-old I felt so self-conscious, and this stopped me socialising, especially around strangers as they would always ask about my stump. I became very snappy with people including my own family because the trauma of what had happened upset me so much, it affected my mood and behaviour.

“I was experiencing flashbacks and phantom pains in my finger at night-time. Any sound that went snap caused a major flashback because I remember hearing the bone in my finger snap in the machine. I have never returned to the place where this happened, I actually don't even go down the road where the factory is, the thought of it all still makes me feel sick and faint.”

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HSE inspector Sara Lumley, said: “This incident occurred on the first day of this young person’s work.

“The machine was adequately guarded, and correct use of the guard would easily have been prevented this incident. The risks should have been identified before the machine was used.

“Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.

“The sentence handed out should act as a reminder to all employers that they will be punished if they don’t protect their workers.”

This prosecution was supported by HSE enforcement lawyer Jon Mack.

Notes to Editors: 1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise.

2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.

3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.