A FIRM that supplied dangerous machinery which resulted in two men having their hands amputated has been fined £175,000.

Oxford Crown Court heard that Thame-based Kubota UK, a subsidiary of a multinational Japanese corporation, had supplied grass cutters whose rotating turbines continued to turn when the machine was shutting down.

This led to two workers getting their hands caught in separate incidents.

North West Kent College employee Roger Adams lost his dominant left hand in an incident on October 17, 2004, and Stephen Sandham, an employee of Wrexham-based Wright Landscapes Ltd, had his right thumb, index and middle fingers amputated, as well as some of his hand, in an incident on April 23, 2004.

Richard Beynon, for the Health and Safety Executive, which brought the prosecution, said the HSE had warned Kubota about the safety defect following an incident in 1999.

It agreed to modify the design, but did not.

In 2004, the HSE put a prohibition notice on the grass cutters, preventing their use.

Kubota had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three health and safety offences. Two related to the injuries caused to Mr Adams and Mr Sandham and the third to 88 instances of supply - all the grass cutters the firm supplied in the UK after it was warned of the defect.

Judge Bruce McIntyre said: "It seems to be that it was forseeable that if anyone had an accident because of this defect in the machinery, it was likely to be the case that the consequences would be life-changing.

"The defendant failed to heed and or acknowledge that fact for a prolonged period of time, during which many others could have had similar accidents.

"It seems to me that there could be no doubt that the defendant could and should have taken the steps to prevent the incidents in 2004 and 1999 and if they had done so, these accidents would not have occurred."

Iain Evans, of the HSE, said: "The level of fine reflects the needless amputations that occured."