If - as should have happened - the accident was entered in the employers' accident book and notified straight away to the Health & Safety Executive (who are nothing to do with the council), then (in my experience) the HSE will be on the case straight away for something as important as losing a finger. However - if the machine has all its correct guards etc and the operatives have been fully trained etc, and the machine has been fully inspected, they may permit it to run again. I would have expected the employer also to have reported this accident straight away to their employers' liability insurance company - as it's likely that a claim for negligence (whether or not successful) could arise from an incident like this - and they would want to send their expert out to view the scene straight away. How long ago did this happen? was it correctly documented (which is a legal requirement) in the workplace?