A 16-year-old school student undergoing a Workplace Structured Learning Program at an engineering workplace had three fingers on his left hand severely crushed (two of these fingers have since been amputated). The student had been given the task of cutting off the ends from 50 pre-cut flat metal strips on a metal cutting guillotine. The person supervising the student had shown him what to do and, after observing the student cut the ends off four strips left him to complete the rest of the task on his own. The student had cut 47 strips and was in the process of cutting the 48th strip when he slipped, lost his balance and fell forward, inadvertently placing three fingers into the operational area of the machine. At this time the student accidentally activated the foot control, bringing the machine’s clamping device down and crushing his fingers.
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