Glossop manufacturer prosecuted by HSE over employee death
A packaging manufacturer from Glossop in Derbyshire has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and fined a total of £50,000 after an employee was killed in a workplace accident.
The incident occurred at the Glossop Carton and Print Ltd factory in September 2006, when 50-year-old employee Clive Hall was carrying out maintenance work on a piece of machinery. The machine was switched on by the operator whilst Mr Hall who had only been employed at the company for two months – was still inside, causing him to suffer fatal head injuries. He was killed instantly.
Following the incident and an investigation into Mr Hall’s death, the Health and Safety Executive prosecuted the owners of the Padfield packaging manufacturing plant. The company was found to have put workers at risk by breaching two sections of the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), and was fined £50,000 plus £76,150 in court costs.
Speaking of the importance of implementing the right health and safety training in every workplace, investigating HSE inspector Eddy Tarn said:
“Both machine operators and maintenance workers should be given adequate training. If a simple procedure for cutting the power supply to the machine had been followed then Mr Hall’s death could have been avoided.”