A NEWPORT man had parts of two fingers amputated after his hand was crushed in a rolling mill processing red hot steel, a court which imposed a £50,000 fine on his employer heard.

Neil Smith was measuring steel at Celsa Manufacturing UK Ltd using 18in calipers – a method dubbed “extremely dangerous” in Cardiff Crown Court – after his original measurement was disputed by shift managers and he was sent back to re-measure.

While wearing protective gear, including gloves, Mr Smith was measuring the steel, which reaches temperatures between 800 and 900 degrees Celsius and goes through the rollers at a speed of one metre a second.

His glove became caught in the caliper, dragging his hand into the rolling mill, crushing and burning his right hand.

As a result, Mr Smith had his two middle fingers partially amputated and extensive reconstruction work on his little finger at Morriston Hospital, Swansea.

Celsa admitted one charge of failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees.

Christian Du Cann, for Celsa, said although he was asked to re-measure, the managers said he was asked to use a different method, called a ‘snap shear’ the second time around.

But the firm admitted calipers were used as a form of measuring for several years until this accident.

The court heard the Health and Safety Executive describe calliper measurement of moving steel as an “extremely dangerous operation.”

Mr Smith’s injuries meant his then seven-month pregnant wife had to do everything for him for the first month and between October 2009 and March 2010, Mr Smith had to travel to Morriston Hospital three times a week for treatment.

He also suffered flashbacks and could no longer play cricket, a sport he loved.

Mr Du Cann said following Mr Smith’s injury, the company has outlawed the use of caliper measurements on moving steel and has been making safety improvements.

The firm was fined £50,000, including a mandatary £15 victim surcharge, and ordered to pay £10,715 costs.

Firm’s safety record is ‘unacceptably poor’

THE court heard about Celsa Manufacturing’s safety record in the courts, which Judge Eleri Rees described as “unacceptably poor”.

The company, in Seawall Road, Tremorfa, Cardiff, was fined a total of £283,000 for four Health and Safety breaches between 2007 and 2011, which included one man losing four toes in an industrial accident, another man was “catastrophically injured”, said Mr Du Cann, when he suffered an electric shock that meant he will never work again, and another man was killed when a 3.7- tonne crane hook hit him.