The skin on the palm of a machine operator’s hand was ripped off in a laminating machine, which had been left unguarded for six years.
Southend-on-Sea magistrates heard on 28 November that local man, Gary Dean, was working at the Southend premises of Frith’s Flexible Packaging when the incident happened on 26 September 2011. He put his left hand inside the machine, used for glue laminating, to try to scrape dried glue residue from a roller, which he noticed had disfigured a finished product. As he did so, his whole hand was drawn into the roller and his palm de-gloved.
Mr Dean required emergency surgery in hospital, followed by several months of physiotherapy to regain movement between his thumb and first finger. He was off work for two and a half months because of his injury.
Sam Thomson, the HSE inspector who investigated the case and prosecuted it in court, told SHP that the interlocked guard had been removed six years previously so that the operator could set the machine up properly.
She explained that the guard had been hinged, but because of obstructions down the side of the laminating machine, the operator was only able to open the guard part way. Consequently, he could not get his hand into the machine when it was turned off to set it correctly. He and other employees, including his supervisor, had used the machine without the guard ever since, allowing access to dangerous moving parts, including the roller, while the machine was in operation.
“Frith’s should have sited the machine properly, so that the hinged guard could be fully opened for setting-up purposes,” the inspector confirmed. “It should have ensured the guard was in place for the last six years and monitored operators to make sure they were using machines with the guard in place.
“The company should have done a proper risk assessment and had a training manual in place for the machine, but did not do so. They should have instructed their operators not to use the machine without the guard in place, but it became custom and practice at the firm. The guard had been off for so long that even the then safety officer in the company had been using the machine without the guard in place.”
Frith’s was served an Improvement Notice (IN) by the HSE on 7 November 2011, which required the company to review its training plan and implement revised risk assessments and a safe system of work. Two further INs were issued – one relating to guarding for a similar laminating machine; and the other instructing the company to train a senior manager to become a competent person for health and safety. The company has complied with all three enforcement notices.
The company said in mitigation it had not been trying to make a profit and there had been no serious injury. But it was convicted of a similar offence in 2004.
Frith’s Flexible Packaging was fined £8000 and ordered to pay full costs of £2046 after pleading guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA for failing to ensure its employees’ safety.
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