A MICROWAVE firm has been fined £10,000 after a factory worker was injured by a robot.

Maintenance worker Andrew Snowdon received a cut to his forehead, which required four stitches, after he was pinned to the floor by a robotic arm at Samsung's Wynyard, Billingham, plant.

The 37-year-old, from Hartlepool, had climbed into a holding jig to carry out repairs after switching off the main power supply.

However, he was unaware that a robotic arm, which lifted microwave oven frames from the production line he was working on to an adjacent conveyor belt, was not connected to the main controls and so had not been turned off when he carried out the repairs.

Teesside magistrates heard he had just removed the top section of the gig when his movements were picked up by a sensor which activated the robotic arm, leading to the accident 18 months ago.

Health and Safety Inspector Laura Lyon told the Bench: "He received a severe laceration to his forehead, close to his right eye.''

Samsung - in the shape of UK vice-president John Slider - pleaded guilty to failing to discharge a duty to ensure the health and safety of its employees, as it was required by the Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974.

Mrs Lyon said Samsung had failed to carry a risk assessment identifying potential hazards in its factory near Billingham.

On discovering the omission, the Health and Safety Executive had issued Samsung with a legally enforced Improvement Notice.

Mrs Lyon said: "This was a large company with significant hazards at their factory which were reasonably practical to be controlled.

"It was the company's failure to manage health and safety which led it to breach the Health and Safety at Work Act and failing in its duty to employees.''

Simon Catterall, solicitor for Samsung, described the accident as "an isolated lapse''; the first accident in Samsung's 16 years in the UK.

"Accidents happen if you don't want a written system of work: bad practice will creep in. The company recognises on this particular occasion, on this part of their substantial manufacturing line they overlooked the potential danger.''

In addition to the £10,000 fine, Samsung was ordered to pay costs of £1,296.