CAMMELL Laird has been fined £400,000 for safety failings after a worker suffered serious injuries whilst carrying out repair work at the Birkenhead shipyard.

The 59-year-old from Ellesmere Port sustained fractures and crush injuries to his right hand in the incident on July 20 last year, which resulted in his being off work for five months.

He has since returned to work.

The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which prosecuted Cammell Laird Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders for serious safety failings.

Liverpool Magistrates Court heard this week that the worker had been repairing a lathe at the time of the incident.

It emerged that while completing the repair he noticed that the shafts and couplings were dirty. In order to clean them he wrapped an emery cloth around the lead screw and turned the lathe on.

As the machine began to run his right hand was pulled in to the moving parts.

The HSE said Cammell Laird's risk assessment had failed to identify the risks involved in the common practice of using emery cloth on moving parts and also failed to recognise the way in which its employees were working, with most machinists carrying out their own maintenance work rather than referring such tasks to the maintenance section.

A system of lock off, which would have prevented reconnection of the power to the machine, had been identified and was outlined in the written health and safety management system but had not been properly communicated to employees or implemented.

Cammell Laird pleaded guilty to a breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £400,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,683.

Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Karen Fearon said: "The defendant had developed a health and safety management system (HSMS) but failed to ensure that the system had permeated all parts of the organisation.

"If the HSMS had been followed this accident may not have occurred.

"Maintenance was being carried out on machinery which was energised whilst someone was in the dangerous part of that machine.

"There was no lock off, poor control and poor management. Prior to maintenance the equipment was not shutdown, isolated and residual energy released and secured with a means to prevent inadvertent reconnection, e.g. by locking off with a padlock, as it should have been."

A Cammell Laird spokesman told the Globe: "We are disappointed that this accident occurred particularly as the company has worked very hard to develop safe working practises to replace old legacy working practises.

"We are, however, pleased that the injured party has since returned to work.

"We maintain our continued drive and commitment to achieving zero lost time accidents within the business and thank our management, staff, TU and workforce for their continued support of this objective."