A TILE manufacturing company has been fined £10,000 after the emergency stop button failed to work when an employee’s arm got caught in a machine.

The worker suffered three breaks to his left arm and crush injuries to his forearms after the incident at Spartan Promenade Tiles in Slough Lane, Ardleigh.

He was removing sand from the inside of a conveyor belt of a tail drum in order to fix the equipment when the accident occurred.

The man’s left glove became caught pulling his hand and arm into the machine.

The emergency stop button in the building did not work, so a colleague had to run to another building to alert the operator at the control panel to turn the machine off.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found a variety of failings including the company failed to suitably assess the risks, implement a safe system of work and control the risks.

Employees were not trained in the use of isolation or lock off procedures for the machinery on site, nor made aware such procedures existed.

The guard on the conveyor tail drum had been removed and the nearest emergency stop button did not work.

The firm admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

It was fined £10,000 at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court and ordered to pay £6,575 costs and a £120 victim surcharge..

HSE inspector Connor Stowers said: “This injury could have been easily prevented and the risks should have been identified.

“Employers need to properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery, and adequately train their workers to use isolation and lock off procedures if they carry out maintenance work.”