THE owner of a Derbyshire firm has been fined after a worker's thumb was severed in an accident and had to be replaced by a big toe.
Mark Evans, 45, was working at CNC Rotary, in Staveley, in June last year when his incident happened, a court heard.
Despite the operation to replace his thumb, Mr Evans suffered "debilitating complications" and was unable to work for a year.
Chesterfield Magistrates' Court heard how he was under the management of David Helley.
The 56-year-old of Markham Road, Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, has now been fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,514 after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Speaking after the hearing, Health and Safety Executive inspector Steve Shaw said: "Lifting incidents are often the result of a lack of training, the wrong equipment or the equipment being in a poor state of repair.
"It is important to have the correct equipment in place, which has been thoroughly examined so that safe lifting operations can be carried out by appropriately-trained personnel.
"As a result of not having safe working conditions in place, Mr Evans suffered a painful, life-changing injury which could have been prevented."
The hearing was told how Mr Evans was rebuilding a rotary table device.
It heard how, as he worked on the tool, it came loose from a sling attaching it to the prongs of a forklift truck, which was being used to lift it.
Mr Evans' right thumb became trapped and was completely severed, causing further tendon damage to the hand.
He was given a skin graft to cover the damaged area and a big toe was used to replace the thumb.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found there was no lifting attachment to secure the sling to the forklift truck and that the equipment had not been thoroughly examined.
As a result of the incident, inspectors found a series of other safety breaches and improvement notices were served.
