A textile company failed to ensure that staff followed a safe system of work when cleaning a baling machine, which was involved in a fatality.
Bradford Crown Court heard that Gary Lee, 40, worked as a general operative at Westwood Yarns Ltd’s factory in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, when the incident took place on 3 January 2008. He was asked to clean a baling machine, which processes loose fibres into yarn, despite not being trained how to do so. He was given a brief demonstration of how the machine worked and was not instructed how to isolate the machine.
The company originally had a safe system of work in place, which required the machine to be isolated and the power switch to be locked with a padlock until the cleaning had been complete. But this process began to be ignored, as workers had got into the habit of taking the lock keys home with them, which meant that others could not open or close the locks. Instead, some employees turned the machine’s baling chambers at an angle, which activated a sensor to isolate power to most parts of the machine.
Mr Lee began cleaning the machine while the baling chambers were at a 90-degree angle, which he thought had isolated the machine. He then climbed up a ladder and leaned over the top of the machine to clean inside. But his body triggered a sensor, which caused the machine to activate and he became trapped against the side of the chamber by a horizontal ram, and a few seconds later a vertical press ram smashed down on him, and he suffered severe crush injuries and a severed spine. He was pronounced dead at the scene when the emergency services arrived.
An Improvement Notice was issued against the company, which required machine operatives to be trained, and the system of work to be properly planned, monitored and regularly reviewed.
Westwood Yarns Ltd appeared in court on 7 June and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £20,625 in costs.
In mitigation, the firm said it has subsequently carried out a fresh risk assessment and now ensures that staff follow the safe system of work by isolating the machine and locking the controls. All machine operatives have received training and they are now properly monitored.
Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector, Kirsty Townend, said: “This was an entirely preventable tragedy. The dangers of baling machines are notorious in the industry but are still all too common. At Westwood Yarns, there was a common misunderstanding that isolation and lock-off at the mains were not required. €
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Another needless death. Yet again the dangers of working with such machinary is missunderstood. Short cuts and an unsafe procedure that had become the “norm”. Companies need to understand the reason that these SSW are put in place and that they are not there to make the job harder, but to save lives.
To the Daily Mail: Another example of interfering health & safety getting in the way of doing the job?
Another aviodable death but I wonder why the Corporate Manslaughter Act has not been applied!
It is possible that HSE proactive inspection could have prevented this. Yet another reason not to cut but to increase HSE funding.
Whilst using the CMA is not an option I believe that individuals should be accountable.. Everyone one from supervisory staff who must have condoned the unsafe practices right up to the boardroom should be acountable for this needless fatality.
I presume the 60k fine was due to the limited resources of the company. Hence a pecuniary sanction is often not a commensurate sanction.
The Corporate Manslaughter Act did not come into force until April 2008. Any death prior to this date cannot be prosecuted using this Act.
60 k fine for a fatality yet celsa fined 50k for an amputation, the maths dont add up unless there is more to this story than has been reported.
erm i dont think in the uk you can retro apply legislation so cma not relevant duh
but lets be honest the daily mail is usually right 99 times out of 100
I echo the comments from the previous contributor. Not only a failure of safe systems of work but this event emphasises the need to make workers hyper risk-conscious. The idea of even getting close to a machine like this should set alarm bells ringing in the ears of workers.