A BOURNEMOUTH aerospace firm has been fined £24,000 after a worker nearly lost an arm in an industrial accident.

On March 11 last year, 23-year-old Adam Harris suffered serious injuries when his arm was caught in a milling machine at the Magellan Aerospace factory in Wallisdown Road.

Surgeons were able to save the limb, but he was not expected to regain full use.

The company was sentenced at Bournemouth Magistrates Court on Wednesday, having admitted breaching health and safety laws at the time of the incident. Magistrates also ordered the company to pay costs of £10,150.

Colleagues of Mr Harris rushed to his aid after witnessing the shocking incident, and initial first aid was carried out by trained staff.

Surgeons at Southampton Hospital, and later Salisbury Hospital, took grafts from his thigh in their efforts to reconstruct his arm.

He had been working for the company for nearly five years and was in his improver year after a serving a four-year apprenticeship in the machine shop.

Magellan Aerospace (UK) Ltd is a subsidiary of a Canadian company, employing around 350 people on its Wallisdown Road site. It manufactures aerospace systems and components, including for the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 helicopters and military vehicles.

The company admitted one count of breaching its general duty to an employee under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and another of failing to take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous machine parts – including the dangerous parts of the No 9 Dufour 302 manual milling machine – on and prior to March 11, 2013.

'It could have been avoided'

HSE Inspector Annette Walker said: “Mr Harris has been traumatised at a very early stage of his working life and has suffered great pain in this incident.

“It could have been avoided had Magellan Aerospace fitted interlocks to stop the movement of dangerous parts and properly supervised the work, particularly in view of this young man’s level of experience. Vertical milling machines have the potential to be very versatile and there can be occasions where workpieces that could be completed on the machine might pose challenges to normal safeguarding arrangements.

“However, the solution is not to simply remove the machine’s guards and rely on the operator’s skill.”

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