Worker loses arm despite century-old protective law

Date:

11 November 2009

Release No:

SCO/206/09

A court today heard how an Inverurie papermill worker lost his arm despite a century-old piece of legislation designed to protect factory workers.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court today (11 November 2009) fined International Paper (UK) Limited of Inverurie, £6,000 after they pleading guilty to a breach of Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who brought the successful prosecution, today also highlighted that laws of this kind go back to the 19th century, and that standards for safeguarding machinery were well publicised.

The fine comes after a man had to have his arm amputated when it became caught in machinery on 13 January 2009, despite legislation being enacted more than a century ago to safeguard workers in these situations.

Since the incident, the company's paper mill at Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, has ceased production (April 2009) for other reasons.

The injured person was employed as a machine assistant in January when a paper break occurred which meant the paper had to be re-fed - known as tail feeding. While attempting to throw the sheet of paper into the machine the man was pulled into the workings by the paper which appears to have wrapped itself around his left arm.

Investigating HSE Inspector John Radcliffe said:

"This was a very serious incident and a Dickensian-style event considering the age of the legislation in place to protect workers. Had a colleague of the injured worker not acted as quickly as he did in stopping the machine, there could have had fatal consequences as his whole body could have been pulled into the machine.

"Investigation of the incident by HSE identified that the safety barrier provided was completely inadequate as a means of preventing access to the dangerous parts of the machine.

"There has been a legal requirement to safeguard the dangerous parts of machinery in Great Britain since the 19th Century and incidents of this serious and traumatic nature should not be occurring in the 21st century. The expected safeguarding standards for machinery in the paper industry have been well publicised following a history of serious machinery incidents."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement.
2. 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."
3. The machinery safeguarding legislation is 1891 Factories Act.
4. The hazards associated with in-running nips (the part of machinery that was involved in this case) are well known in industry and have for many years been covered in the British Standard Publication 'Code of Practice. Safeguarding of machinery' which was first written in 1975. Furthermore specific guidance for the papermaking industry was published by The Health and Safety Commission's Paper and Board Advisory Committee in 2001 after extensive consultation with the paper industry entitled 'Making Paper Safely - Managing safety in the paper making process'. Please visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/paper/index.htm for more information.

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