Worker handling catalytic converters left with awful life-changing injuries by incident

A worker who was processing catalytic converters was left with life-changing injuries by an incident at her Essex workplace, which has now incurred a large fine.

Elena Troia lost her right arm as a result of the "wholly avoidable" incident at FJ Church and Sons.

She has been unable to work since.

The company has admitted breaching Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations and it has been ordered to pay a £200,000 fine plus £5,125 in costs.

Stratford Magistrates Court was told during the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution last month that 34-year-old Troia was working at FJ Church and Sons' recycling facility in Rainham, Essex, to process old catalytic converters using a sampling machine.

As she passed her right hand throuh an unguarded rotary valve to remove a blockage, the valve closed, trapping and brutally severing her arm.

Surgeons were unable to save her arm and it was later amputated, the HSE said.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that F.J. Church and Sons failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery, namely the rotating parts of a rotary valve inside the catalytic converter sampling machine.

HSE guidance states employers must take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery.

HSE inspector Marcus Pope said: “Every year, a significant proportion of accidents, many of them serious and sometimes fatal, occur as a result of poorly guarded work equipment. In this case this was a wholly avoidable incident, caused by the failure to guard dangerous parts. Had the company added suitable guarding to the outlet of the machine, this life-changing injury would not have occurred.”