The driver lost his entire index finger, half of his middle finger and severed the end of his ring finger on his right hand in the incident at a golf driving range undergoing renovation close to the A1 Barnet By-Pass on 22 July 2010.
It was not possible to reattach the fingers and he has been left with permanent injuries.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that he was attempting to use a wheel spinner to remove mud and debris from his vehicle. However, the equipment at the site, operated by Poole-based principal contractor Woodland Environmental Ltd, was in poor working order and had been adapted, which forced drivers to adopt an unsafe way of using it.
An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) identified that a rope was held taut to hold a brake lever in position, and that as the driver attempted to release this it caught and severed his fingers.
The rope had been attached to the brake lever for several months and had no place on the equipment. The condition of the wheel spinner was the responsibility of Woodland Environmental, but its systems for monitoring equipment and procedures proved inadequate.
Woodland Environmental Ltd, of Hatch Pond Road, Poole, was fined a total of £5,000 and ordered to pay £8,833 in costs after pleading guilty to two separate breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Stephron Baker Holmes said: "Those who provide work equipment need to take effective steps to ensure that it continues to function properly, and to ensure that it is not subject to clumsy, make-do adaptations – as was the case here.
"The failures of Woodland Environmental Ltd contributed to a wholly preventable incident that has left the lorry driver with permanent, life-changing injuries."
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
