A 51-year-old man may have to have his lower right leg amputated after serious injuries he sustained while using an unsafe machine in whose operation he had not been trained.
David Wain, from Holmewood, Bradford was hit by a 1.5-tonne pallet of tin plates he was loading on to a pallet-turner at the Tyersal premises of his employer, Emballator UK Ltd, on 6 February 2012.
Mr Wain, a coating assistant at the plant, which manufactures tin cans, had been told to use an older machine to turn the bulk tin plate, as a fault had developed on the usual, more modern pallet-turner.
Bradford magistrates, sitting on 1 May, heard he had no experience of using the older machine and a colleague showed him how to use it and how to load the pallets for turning.
Mr Wain used a forklift truck to pick up a pallet of plates and load the machine the way he had been told — wedging the load using empty pallets — and switched it on. Moments later, after the machine had turned 180 degrees, Mr Wain saw the plates and pallets moving. He tried to get out of the way but the full load of plates spilled out of the machine, trapping his right foot against the floor.
Part of his big toe was severed and the sole of his foot was split. Surgeons managed to reattach the next two toes and he needed plates put into his ankle and screws into his lower leg. He was in hospital for 11 days.
Mr Wain has been housebound since the incident and unable to walk without crutches. He was informed earlier this year by the hospital that his foot and lower leg may need to be amputated.
The HSE investigated the incident and found Emballator UK Ltd had failed to provide safe equipment and a safe system of work. There was no clamping mechanism to retain the pallet of metal plates within the rotating machine, and no guarding to keep operators from the machine during turning.
In addition, the firm had not identified the risks involved with using the older machine, and, in particular, the risk of the plates falling out. Mr Wain was not supervised while he used the machine for the first time. No checks were made that he understood the risks and the precautions to take.
Emballator UK Ltd, of City Link Industrial Park, Phoenix Way, Tyersal, Bradford, pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the HSWA 1974. The firm was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £3769 in full costs.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Andrea Jones said: “Emballator UK Ltd failed in their duties to provide a suitable machine for turning pallets and a safe method of operation that Mr Wain could use. Manually securing the load in an open box by means of wedges or empty pallets is not a sufficiently reliable method of securing the load.
“A proper examination of the risks would have shown that there was a danger of the load shifting and falling from the machine, during or after turning. A simple clamping mechanism would have secured it, and was indeed applied to the newer machine.
“It is also essential that checks are made by managers to ensure operators are trained and competent to use the machines they provide, understand the risks and associated precautions to take.”
SHP contacted the company for a comment but it did not wish to provide one.
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