A 16-year-old guest worker from Bihar lost four fingers of his left hand after it was pulled into a PVC-cutting machine at a factory in the Gummidipoondi SIPCOT industrial estate, prompting a police case over alleged negligence and the engagement of a minor in hazardous work.
The accident occurred at around 3 am on October 11, when the worker, identified by police as Ranjan Kumar, was operating an extrusion cutter. Police said Kumar had joined the company about a month earlier. His hand was caught by the moving blade, causing crush injuries and severing four fingers.
Co-workers stopped the machine and took Kumar to a private hospital in Gummidipoondi for first aid. Because of the severity of the injury, he was later shifted to another private hospital in Kolathur, Chennai, where he remains under inpatient treatment, according to the report.
The case came to police attention after Kumar’s relative, Narayana Yadhav, lodged a complaint with SIPCOT police on Friday. The complaint alleged negligence and violations of labour norms in allowing a minor to operate dangerous factory machinery.
Based on the complaint, police registered a case against the factory supervisor, identified as Aravind, for negligence and for engaging a child labourer in hazardous machinery operation. The report does not state whether the supervisor or the factory management has responded to the allegations.
Police are examining the factory’s shift rosters, safety training records and the safety arrangements around the extrusion cutter. Investigators are also checking whether protective guards were installed on the machine at the time of the accident. These records are central to establishing who assigned the worker to the machine, what training he received and whether the equipment had the required safeguards, according to the report.
Labour department officials have been informed and are expected to inspect the unit. The inspection will examine the employment of the minor and the factory’s workplace safety arrangements. The police investigation is continuing to fix responsibility for the incident.
The case places attention on the systems governing industrial employment in SIPCOT estates, where production schedules, shift work and machinery operations are managed within individual factory units. In this incident, the reported overnight timing, the worker’s short period of employment and the alleged use of a minor on a cutting machine are among the facts being examined by the authorities.
Further action will depend on the findings from the police investigation, the review of employment and safety records, and the labour department’s inspection of the factory.
