I2r Packaging fined 10k after woman loses fingers in press accident

Telford Magistrates Court fined the company, which is based in the town, £10,000 and ordered it to pay costs of £5,677 following a hearing on the incident in September 2008, in which a female worker lost two fingers and part of a third in an accident on a 130-tonne power press.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) led the prosecution against i2r. The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The court heard that in the incident, the woman, who asked not to be named, trapped her hand in the press while helping a colleague remove aluminium foil from the press.

According to the HSE, the colleague had opened the protective guards of the press, which stops the machine, but had not switched off the pneumatic energy.

A small amount of energy stored within the pneumatic system, even though it was turned off, then made the press snap upwards, amputating the middle and index fingers, and the tip of the ring finger, of the woman’s right hand.

I2r Packaging Solutions chief executive Peter Reay said: “We deeply regret the accident. Since the incident we have worked closely and co-operated fully with the Health and Safety Executive ensuring that our robust plans continue to meet industry needs.

“We continue to take our health and safety responsibilities seriously with ongoing training for all staff and regular checks on our machinery. Our priority is to ensure that such an accident never happens again.”

HSE inspector Katharine Walker said: “The injuries may not have been life threatening, but they were life changing. Adequate safety mechanisms, to discharge the pneumatic energy automatically rather than manually, could have prevented this incident from occurring.”

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