Risk, Health and Safety Information

Worker's injury leads to court case for firm

A North Yorkshire firm has been fined after a worker became trapped by the head and neck in a packaging machine at its factory in Whitley Bridge, near Selby.

Cromar Building Products Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for safety failings after it investigated the incident on 16 February last year.

Selby Magistrates Court heard (3 July) that Mr Glyn Addison was working on a packaging machine when a wrapping unit developed a fault that stopped it from correctly sealing polythene around rolls of roof felt on a production line.

Mr Addison squeezed past a table where the finished rolls were discharged and reached under the roll conveyor to free some packaging film from the machine. As he did, a ram pushing the rolls of felt on to the packaging machine moved forward and trapped him by the head and neck against the frame of the conveyor.

The court heard Mr Addison was quickly freed by a colleague who prised away the ram. However, he suffered nerve damage to his neck and shoulder area and has not returned to work since.

HSE discovered that the wrapping machine often blocked and operatives regularly accessed the machine by walking between gaps down either side of the discharge table.

It found that Cromar Building Products had failed to ensure that the machine could be effectively isolated so employees were unable to access dangerous moving parts. There was also no safe system of work for employees to follow.

Cromar Building Products Ltd of The Maltings Industrial Estate, Whitley Bridge, pleaded guilty to a single breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act l974. The company was fined £2,750 and ordered to pay £3,039 in costs.

After the case, HSE Inspector Helen Hennessy said:

"There is no doubt that this incident could have been avoided. It highlights the need for employers to ensure they devise and maintain safe systems of work, and that machinery is properly isolated before workers enter the danger zone.

"It was lucky that Mr Addison's injuries were not life-threatening, but if his colleague had not been there to release him quickly, the outcome could have been very different.

"Employers must provide adequate safeguards and ensure their staff are given the right information, procedures and systems to allow them to do their jobs in safety."