Fatal Accident of Employee Leads to Fine for Director
Operations director of a pet food company was held guilty of breaching safety regulations for maintenance of equipments at the workplace following the death of an employee at the company’s factory premises.
John O’Connor, an employee at Butcher’s Pet Care Ltd, was working at the factory when he noticed that its palletising machine had got stuck due to some blockage. The machine is an automatic, sensor-operated machine that is used for arranging food cans into layers after picking them from conveyor belts.
Although the machine in the factory should have been properly secured to prevent employees from entering the area (especially when the machine was powered on), there was a large gap in the fencing created by the stair rails that allowed easy entry to the workers.
O’Connor entered the area through the gap and tried to remove the blockage. However, as soon as the blocked pallet was repositioned, the machine started moving and crushed him underneath, killing him on the spot.
Philip Thompson, the operations director who was responsible for ensuring the health and safety of the employees, was prosecuted by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Northampton Crown Court. Thompson was charged with violation of Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, to which he pleaded guilty. He was then fined 10,000 pounds and ordered to pay an additional 4,000 pounds as costs.
Speaking about the case, HSE Principal Inspector for Northamptonshire Neil Craig said that the director had not only failed to secure the machinery so as to prevent access to it but had also failed to repair the gap in the fencing that had been there for over two years. He also added that this was not an isolated incident and that since employees often used the gap to fix the machine, there was a high probability of an accident like this at any moment.
For help in managing health and safety hazards and risks, Workplace Law can assist in establishing good practices by addressing problems and rectifying deficiencies. Organisations can achieve compliance with Occupational Health and Safety Accreditation Standard (OHSAS 18001) by demonstrating legal and regulatory compliance with improved policies and performance to achieve a successful safety management system.
