A PALLET-making company was fined £4,000 yesterday after a worker severed a tendon in his hand on a circular saw.

Tyne and Wear Pallets, represented by its managing director Peter McKenzie, pleaded guilty before Gateshead magistrates to failing to protect the safety of its workers by allowing a safety device to be deliberately disabled.

The court was told Kenneth Burns, 52, of Boldon Colliery, South Tyneside, was lucky not to have lost his hand when he tried to clear a blockage in the machine.

Stephen Britton, of the Health and Safety Executive, said the manufacturer of the machine had included a locking device on gates to prevent workers entering while it was running. But, he said, all parts of the machine at the pallet company could be entered and it was customary for operators to enter it to clear blockages.

Mr Britton said the commercial benefit of not waiting for the machine to shut down amounted to an extra 30 pallets per hour.

As operators worked partly on a bonus basis, it was in their interests to enter the machine to clear blockages while it was running, he said.

The court was told that Mr Burns had entered the machine to clear a loose airline when he noticed a pallet had become stuck.

He pushed it away, but his arm came in contact with the blade and severed the tendon in his wrist.

Stephen Graham, mitigating, said it was the operators who had disabled the safety device. He said the firm had spent £130,000 taking remedial action.

The company, at the Old Lamesley Sawmill, in Gateshead, was also ordered to pay £1,979 costs.