A COMPANY with an accident rate nearly three times higher than average has been ordered to pay a £12,500 fine after a worker's hand was crushed in a press machine.

Car parts firm Trelleborg Automotive, based in Trowbridge, was also ordered to pay £5,000 in compensation to Andrew Bodymore by magistrates at Chippenham on Monday.

The 32-year-old lost the use of his left hand as a result of the accident when his hand got caught in the machine while he was working a late shift in the factory, at the White Horse Business Park, in November last year.

The accident happened just four months after another worker, 54-year-old Anthony Smith, died after being crushed by another machine at the factory.

Magistrate Shelia Kimmins said: "The rate of reportable accidents is considerably higher than average for the manufacturing industry, including three accidents in the past four years that involved purging these types of machines."

Figures from the Health and Safety Executive show there have been 44 accidents reported at the firm since 2001.

Latest figures from the Labour Force Survey estimate the national average for accidents in the manufacturing sector is 1,930 per 100,000 employees per year, with 1,156 of those reportable, meaning fatal, serious or resulting in an employee having to take more than three days off work.

At Trelleborg, which employs 200 people, the rate of reportable accidents is 5,500 per 100,000 employees, taken as an average over the past four years.

Ian Whittles, from the Health and Safety Executive, said: "The rate is higher than the manufacturing industry and higher than the rubber industry, which is high in its own right."

The accident happened after the machine Mr Bodymore was working with had been modified and the court heard the company had failed to carry out a health and safety risk assessment after these modifications were made.

Simon Antrobus, representing Trelleborg, told the court the company accepted liability but said this failure did not indicate a wider problem with safety and this was an isolated incident.

He said: "This was not a systematic failure or company wide; it was a series of unfortunate errors. The modification should have been the subject of a risk assessment and it wasn't."

The court heard the company has since taken steps to improve safety, including carrying out a complete review of the risk assessment system.

Mr Whittles said: "They have done an awful lot to improve safety since the fatal accident. I will give them credit for that."

As well as compensation and the fine the company was ordered to pay costs of £3,097 to the HSE.

A claim for further compensation is currently being pursued through the civil courts.