Engineering firm Dlinexsign Ltd of Brackley, United Kingdom, has been fined after an employee lost part of a finger in an accident involving an automatic saw. An investigation by the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company had failed to take effective measures to prevent access to the machine’s dangerous moving parts.
What happened
The incident took place at Dlinexsign Ltd’s premises on the Buckingham Road Industrial Estate in Brackley. The employee reached into an automatic saw with his hand to remove a cut-off piece of material while the machine was still running. His hand came into contact with the moving saw blade, causing him to lose part of a finger. According to HSE, this amounted to a partial finger amputation. The saw was used to cut material to length.
HSE’s investigation found that the machine’s dangerous moving parts were accessible while it was running, without the company having taken effective measures to prevent this. As a result, the employee was able to reach the saw blade with his hand while it was still turning.
Conviction
Dlinexsign Ltd, based on Shires Road in Brackley, pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER 1998), the UK regulations governing the safe use of work equipment. This provision requires employers to take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous moving parts of machinery. The case was heard on 23 October 2026 at Milton Keynes Magistrates’ Court. The company was fined £20,000, ordered to pay £15,000 in compensation to the victim, and must also pay £9,064.34 in costs. In total, the financial outcome of the case amounts to £44,064.34.
HSE inspector Dulanjala Kandana-Arachchige described the incident as preventable. According to the inspector, the case shows how serious the consequences can be when access to dangerous machine parts is not effectively prevented, and employers must ensure that machinery is properly guarded and that employees cannot reach dangerous moving parts.
Recommendations
HSE stresses that employers must take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. According to HSE, this is usually achieved with fixed guards that enclose the dangerous part of the machine. Where access to the machine is required, HSE says interlocked guards may be necessary. These ensure that the dangerous movement has stopped before anyone can reach the danger zone. In the case against Dlinexsign Ltd, HSE’s investigation found that exactly such an effective safeguard was missing: the saw blade was accessible while the machine was running. HSE refers to its “Introduction to machinery safety” guidance for further explanation.
Context
For background, some general figures on workplace accidents in Great Britain. According to HSE’s official annual statistics for 2024-2025, there were approximately 680,000 self-reported non-fatal workplace injuries in Great Britain, based on the Labour Force Survey, of which 59,219 were formally reported under the RIDDOR regulations (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations). In the same period, 124 fatal workplace accidents occurred across all sectors combined.
These figures cover workplace accidents across all sectors and are not specific to machinery safety. They do, however, give an indication of the overall scale of workplace injury in Great Britain. How many of these accidents involved machinery or inadequately guarded moving parts is not shown by these figures.
Source: HSE press release: Engineering company fined after worker suffers finger amputation, 28 October 2026
Additional research: HSE annual statistics 2024-2025 (via designandbuilduk.net)
