A FARMING supplies firm has been fined £30,000 after an industrial accident cost a worker two of his fingers.

Countrywide Farmers Plc admitted breaching health and safety law at its animal hutch factory in Amesbury.

Factory boss Ivan Locke cut corners by removing the safety guard on a circular saw to boost productivity.

Employee Jason Piper severed the index and middle fingers in his left hand on September 3, 2014.

Salisbury Crown Court heard that Countrywide bought Locke’s Animal Homes Limited, a long-time supplier of wooden rabbit hutches and chicken coops, after it went into liquidation.

The firm moved from Exeter to Minton Distribution Park, Amesbury, in April 2014, under the new name CWF joinery. Former owner Locke continued to manage the factory, but struggled to find the experienced joiners he needed and was forced to hire unskilled staff and train them from scratch. Customers complained of a drop in quality.

Under pressure to produce 100 units a week, Locke found a way to boost productivity and conceal poor workmanship by removing a safety guard.

He told a health and safety manager that only he would use the machine without the guard, but other workers at the site did use the machine unprotected.

The company admitted breaching its duty but said top bosses were unaware of the safety issues.

Countrywide said it had placed too much reliance on its “old fashioned relationship” with Locke, who was left to run the plant unchecked, and said it felt “ashamed” for the injury.

And the firm said it invested substantial money into the joinery and extra money for training and equipment would have been made available if it had been asked for. It also denied setting such stringent targets.

Judge Richard Parkes QC said: “The risk of using these machines without the guard were well known.

“Mr Piper was not properly trained and should not have been using the saw without the guard.

“There was no need for the guard to be removed. It was highly dangerous and it was not an isolated incident.”

Countrywide has since dissolved CWF Joinery.

Andy Shaw from the Health and Safety Executive said: “This incident and the disfiguring injury that it caused resulted from basic failings in the appreciation and control of a well known hazardous operation, where the necessary guidance and physical means to carry out the work safely were both readily and cheaply available.”