Pet food director fined £10,000 after worker crushed to death

Date:

13 October 2009

Release No:

EM/ 79

A director of a pet food company has been fined £10,000 for breaches of health and safety law after a worker was crushed to death.

John O'Connor, 38, who worked at the Butcher's Pet Care Ltd factory on Crick Industrial Estate, was crushed when he entered a machine to clear a blockage.

The company's operations director, Philip Thompson, of Flecknoe, Rugby, was yesterday fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £4,000 costs after being prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Northampton Crown Court.

Mr Thompson, who was also the director with responsibility for health and safety, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in failing in his role as a director to ensure that effective measures were taken to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery.

The 'palletising' machine is used to take cans of pet food from conveyor belts and stack them in layers on pallets. It is fully automatic and operated by sensors. The machine should have been fully-enclosed with an interlock system to prevent anyone gaining access until the power is shut off.

Mr O'Connor entered the caged area - via a gap in the fencing created by the stair rails - to reposition a blocked pallet, which when freed, set the machine in motion, trapping and killing Mr O'Connor.

HSE Principal Inspector for Northamptonshire Neil Craig said:

"This tragic loss of life could have been so easily avoided had Mr Thompson properly fulfilled his duties as a director.

"This was far from being an isolated incident. The unfenced gap between the stair rails had been there for nearly two years and it had become common practice for employees to nip through it to fix problems on the machine in an effort keep the production line running, anyone of whom could have suffered the same fate as Mr O'Connor.

"This level of fine should serve as a stark warning to company directors to take their responsibilities for health and safety seriously and to reinforce the message that they cannot hide behind the organisation."

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure there are effective measures to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery."
2. Butchers Pet Care Ltd, Crick, Northamptonshire, NN6 7TZ have already pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and are due to be sentenced on 5 November 2009 at Northampton Crown Court
3. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."

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Issued on behalf of HSE by COI News and PR East Midlands.