Last week one of our employees suffered an injury to his hand.  The employee, who has worked for us for nearly 45 years, suffered a severe cut to the end of one finger which required medical treatment in hospital, when it was trapped between a v-belt and roller while manually turning a fan.

Hand injures have historically been an issue for us, accounting for over a third of our most serious incidents last year (9 out of 25 TRIs).  This is the first such incident this year; it is important that we all take time to STOP & THINK about the potential for hand injuries before starting any new task, ensuring necessary precautions are in place and completing a Worksafe assessment where required.

As mentioned previously, we have recently circulated training materials to highlight the importance of stopping and thinking and the dangers of being “in the line of fire”, which feature a contractor talking about a hand injury he suffered last year while working for us.  In accordance with our Health and Safety Improvement Plan, these materials, which are available via the following link, should be rolled out to employees and regular contractors by the end of July:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Al2hYrMQQSswga1o8lBM4328YQmQbw

On completion of the investigation into this latest incident, a Safety Alert will be circulated to share any relevant learning points.