A tobacco manufacturer in Northern Ireland has been fined £150,000 after an engineer was crushed to death inside a machine.
Trevor Allen was a maintenance engineer at Gallaher Ltd’s factory in Ballymena, Co. Antrim when the incident took place, on 25 July last year. The company, which is owned by Japan Tobacco International, makes cigarettes for the UK market at the factory, and also produces Virginia-blended cigarettes for export.
The 63-year-old was carrying out repairs on a robotic palletiser with another maintenance engineer and an engineering manager. During the work an unsupported robot arm, which weighed a quarter of a tonne, dropped and landed on Mr Allen, trapping his head and shoulders on a scaffold bar. He died four days later owing to his injuries.
The HSENI investigated the incident and found that neither Mr Allen nor the other maintenance engineer had been trained how to do the work. Inspectors later learned that there were other engineers at the factory who had been trained how to do the work.
Head of the major investigations team at the HSENI Louis Burns explained that the company had failed to carry out a risk assessment, and there were no maintenance manuals to provide instructions on how to do the work safely.
Burns said: “This tragic incident was completely and easily avoidable. It is hard to overstate the potential for death or serious injury arising from poorly planned repair and maintenance work.
“Careful planning and extreme care must be taken at all times to ensure that the correct people and equipment and systems of work are provided and used during repair and maintenance work. It wasn’t on this occasion, and a life was needlessly lost as a result.”
Gallaher Ltd appeared at Antrim Crown Court on 26 October and pleaded guilty to breaching Article 4 of the Health and Safety at Work Order (NI) 1978 and reg.3 MHSWR (NI) 2000.
After the hearing, the factory’s managing director Robert Bisaillon said: “Trevor Allen was a valued member of our team for 33 years and his death has been deeply felt by everyone at the factory.
“We place the utmost priority on the health and safety of employees, work rigorously to minimise risk, and are committed to continual health and safety improvement.”
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