GP Grading machine

The nursery worker's arm was severed by a machine

An £18,000 fine has been dished out to a vegetable nursery after a worker’s arm was severed when his glove got trapped in a machine.

The employee at Glenholme Nursery, in Nazeing, Essex, had his arm reattached in hospital, but has been left in constant pain after suffering 'major, life-changing injuries under horrific circumstances', according to a health and safety inspector.

The 39-year-old was working with a large machine which chopped fibre sheeting full of vegetable and plant waste.

The man was tensing the sheet and trying to feed it squarely into the roller when his glove became tangled on the edge.

His left arm was dragged into the machine and severed at the lower forearm.

Surgeons managed to reattach the limb, but he has not regained any movement, grip or sensation below the amputation scar and suffers constant pain.

The man who had been employed by the firm for just four months prior to the incident on April 30 2014, and had been living on the site, has been left unable to return to work.

Glenholme Nursery was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay £862 in costs, as well as a £120 victim surcharge after admitting breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (March 10).

The nursery was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after it was emerged the company had not assessed the risks posed by the machine.

After the case, HSE inspector Paul Grover said: “The failure to look thoroughly at the potential risks of this machine in operation and the absence of safe working procedures, resulted in a worker sustaining major, life-changing injuries under horrific circumstances.

“Employers have an absolute duty to ensure that they do everything reasonably practicable to ensure their employees are safe at work.

'In this case, the failures by Glenholme Nursery are likely to have a long-term impact on this man’s future working life and financial security.'