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Pet foods firm fined after packaging fatalityliz.wells@haymarket.com, 13 March 2009Be the first to comment on this article A pet food manufacturer has been fined for breaching health and safety law after an employee working in its packaging department in Chiddingfold was crushed to death when machine guarding was bypassed. The conviction followed an incident on 1 February 2006 when Naturediet Pet Foods employee Marcus Snow was working on a semi automatic ‘off load machine’, used to transfer finished cartons of dog food onto a conveyor, when the machine became jammed. Snow crawled into the front entrance of the machine in an attempt to clear the suspected jam when the pneumatic pick-up unit descended and pinned him to the stack of trays. The continued pressure from the pick up unit on Snow’s chest led to his death by asphyxiation. Photoelectric light curtains were used as guarding at both the entrance and exits of the machine. However, both units had been wired out allowing whole body access to the body of the machine and also to several dangerous parts of machinery. HSE Inspector Janet Hanson said: “This tragic incident was entirely foreseeable and entirely preventable. The poor standards of machinery guarding on site meant that it was only a matter of time before the risk of serious personal injury was realised.” Naturediet Pet Foods, who pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health & Safety at Work Act, was fined £157,500. Carol Wilcox, Naturediet Pet Foods managing director, said: This was an extremely regrettable incident. Since the accident Naturediet has relocated to a purpose-built, state-of-the-art premises in Norfolk. All of the new machinery is fully safety compliant and has been subject to inspection by the HSE prior to the incident in Chiddingfold. We are confident we have all measures in place to prevent a recurrence of this unfortunate accident, she added. Speak Your Mind |
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