- Workplace safety failure results in serious injury to young employee
- Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Isoma Limited had failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment
- Isoma Limited fined £16,000
A conveyor systems manufacturer based in Swadlincote has been fined £16,000 after an 18-year-old employee broke his arm when he became entangled in a manual lathe while deburring with emery cloth.
The incident happened on 1 December 2023 at Isoma Limited’s factory at George Holmes Business Park, Swadlincote. The young employee was deburring by hand without using a protective appliance when his arm became caught in the rotating lathe.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Isoma Limited failed to provide a safe system of work or a risk assessment for deburring components.
HSE guidance states that employers must carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks from using emery cloth to polish, deburr or size a metal component while it is rotating in a manual lathe. The risk assessment should determine whether the use of emery cloth can be eliminated completely. Where this is not practicable, a safe method of using emery cloth on a rotating manual metalworking lathe must be implemented. Relevant guidance can be found at HSE’s website.
Isoma Ltd, of George Holmes Way, Swadlincote, Derbyshire, DE11 9DF pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay £4,357.77 in costs and £2,000 victim surcharge at Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court on 20 November 2025.
HSE investigating inspector Nicole Riley said: “Every year there are accidents involving the use of emery cloths on metalworking lathes, resulting in serious injuries. This incident could have been avoided if Isoma Limited had put in place a suitable safe system of work for employees deburring workpieces on manual lathes. There is clear guidance available to companies who undertake this work.”
This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Andy Siddall and paralegal officer Lynne Thomas.