A garden landscaper has been handed a suspended prison sentence after a worker was killed when a moving circular saw kicked back into his groin.
The labourer, who had been working for Watford-based gardener Mr. Fernando Araujo for just two days, was killed in the incident at a house on Harewood, Rickmansworth, on 11 August 2021.
The 31-year-old had been assisting Mr. Araujo, 54, with the installation of railway sleepers along the edge of the front garden driveway. At the time of the incident he was using an angle grinder fitted with a toothed circular saw blade to cut the wooden sleepers.
Prosecuting, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforcement lawyer Jon Mack told St Albans Magistrates’ Court that the use of a toothed saw blade on an angle grinder made it a dangerous machine.
The guard had also been removed from the grinder as the circular saw blade fitted was larger than the original grinder disc on the power tool. In addition, the sleeper had been placed in a skip and was not secured whilst being cut. While attempting to cut the sleeper, the tool kicked back under power into the worker’s groin causing him to sustain a serious, fatal laceration.