393Glaring loopholes in safety caused factory worker’s death
posted on March 19th, 2009
In an unfortunate incident that took place in February 2006, a factory worker was crushed to death when heavy machinery fell on him while he was on duty. According to the HSE, the incident was caused due to ’serious and deliberate deficiencies’ in the factory. The employer of the deceased worker has been fined ₤157,500 for causing the death of the worker.
The incident took place, when the victim, Marcus Snow, was working in the packing department of the company, a pet food producer. Tragedy struck as one of the machines he was using to carry over empty cartons of dog food to the conveyor malfunctioned. Thinking that the machine had got jammed because of an obstruction, Mr. Snow crawled into the machine when a pick up machinery fell on him. The pressure of the machine on his chest caused asphyxiation leading to death.
The machine on which Mr. Snow was working was highly unsafe as several checks guarding the entry into machine were deliberately broken, resulting in access to the inner and dangerous parts of the machine, which eventually proved fatal. This case highlights the need for employees to have health and safety training to help reduce easily avoidable accidents, visit the website all about iosh managing safely courses.
After the judgment, Janet Hanson, an inspector with the HSE said that a joint investigation was conducted with cooperation from Surrey Police, and it brought to light a number of deliberate slips in the safeguarding of the machine Mr. Snow was working on. She added that the investigation revealed rules were being flouted in many other places in the factory and several machines had broken guards, thus creating very dangerous conditions for the workers.
Ms Hanson said that such a tragedy was waiting to happen at that site considering the kind of working conditions created by the employer. She added that what is particularly tragic is that the incident could have been easily avoided had the employer shown any regard for employee safety.
