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May/June 2023 issue

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Work equipment
Manufacturing and engineering
News

Worker dragged into machine through 14 cm conveyor gap

Open-access content Monday 9th July 2018
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Worker dragged into machine through 14 cm conveyor gap

Leeds Crown Court was told that the W E Rawson employee was working on a Desco packaging machine, which compresses and shrink-wraps mattress infill pads.

On 28 February 2014, a set of pads failed to pass through the machine. As the chargehand attempted to force them through, he came into contact with the machine's upper and lower in-running conveyors, which were used to drive the pads. He was drawn into the 145 mm gap between the two conveyors down to his waist and died of severe crush injuries two days later.

W E Rawson, which makes non-woven industrial textiles from recycled fabrics, pleaded guilty to breaching s 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was sentenced on 4 July and ordered to pay more than £20,000 costs.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector John Boyle told IOSH Magazine that these particular pads were known to cause blockages in the packaging machine. The pads were about 117 mm thick, while the gap between the two conveyors was set wider on the day of the accident.

"That small gap meant the conveyors couldn't grip the pads and that's why we believe they became hung on the shrink wrap," he said.

It had become custom and practice for some shopfloor workers to use a telescopic metal pole or a cardboard tube to dislodge the pads. A tube was found next to the machine on the day of the accident and the HSE believes this is what the operator was doing when he was drawn in between the two conveyors.

Boyle said: "The machine blocked often enough for employees to take it upon themselves to use long telescopic metal poles or cardboard tubes."

The HSE served a prohibition notice on the company, which complied by fitting a fixed roller array to the front of the machine to create a safe distance between the operator and the conveyors.

Sentencing guidelines application:

Culpability:

High

Seriousness of harm risked:

Level A

Likelihood of harm:

High

Harm category:

1

Size of the organisation:

Medium

Turnover:

£22.3m

Mitigating features:

Remedial action, full co-operation with the HSE, one-third discount for early guilty plea

Aggravating factors:

Company's third prosecution

Final penalty:

£600,000 plus £20,165 costs

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HSE

 Crushed worker sustains multiple injuries in fencer’s third incident

Monday 16th July 2018
Blok N Mesh employee John Evans was helping to load fencing panels into shipping containers on 23 February 2017 when around 34 panels fell on him. He sustained multiple injuries, which included a broken left shoulder, fractured vertebrae in his neck, two broken ribs, contusions to his lungs, and soft tissue damage to his face.
Open-access content

 Plastic injection moulder had no SSoW for clearing blockages

Tuesday 12th June 2018
The employee was trying to clear a blockage on a plastic injection moulding machine when the incident happened on 20 December 2016. The severity of his injuries caused him to miss three months off work.The Health and Safety Executive found that Brother Industries (UK) had no safe system of work for clearing a blockage on its machines.
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 US meat plants record average of 17 ‘severe’ incidents a month, OSHA reveals

Friday 6th July 2018
The data, which has been analysed by The Guardian newspaper and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an independent, not-for-profit organisation based in London, shows that on average there are 17 “severe” incidents a month in US meat plants. The injuries include amputations, burns and head trauma.
Open-access content

 Largest Welsh milk processor to pay £200,000 for burns injuries

Friday 13th July 2018
Wrexham Magistrates’ Court was told on 11 July that an employee at Tomlinson’s Dairies was modifying the pipework at the back of one of the firm’s plants on the Five Crosses Industrial Estate in Minera when the incident happened on 3 May 2017.A pneumatic valve opened and the worker, who was covered in hot caustic and steam, sustained 27% burns to his body. He remained in hospital for four weeks.
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 Gas cylinder shot through workshop injuring two

Thursday 28th June 2018
Redhall Engineering Services pleaded guilty to breaching s 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found there was no safe system of work for the job.On 6 January 2017 an employee had opened the pressure relief valves on several gas cylinders he had been asked to decommission and dispose of, to release any oxygen that remained inside.
Open-access content
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 £740k penalty for timber yard with unsafe workplace traffic routes

Wednesday 27th June 2018
The Palmer Timber employees were walking across the firm’s yard at Cradley Heath, in the West Midlands, on 23 February 2015 when a Combilift multi-directional forklift hit them as it turned a corner.The company pleaded guilty to breaching reg 4, by virtue of reg 17, of the Workplace (Health and Safety and Welfare) Regulations, which covers the organisation of traffic routes.
Open-access content
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