Plastics manufacturer fined after employee’s arm was pulled into rollers of slitter machine.

A company, which manufactures self-adhesive vinyl and other coated plastic films has been fined after an employee’s hand became caught between two driven rollers and was pulled into the machine.

Newport Magistrates’ Court heard how on 25 July 2019.an employee of Kay Premium Marking Films Limited was attempting to clean glue off a roller within the slitter machine. His hand became caught within the mechanism of the machine and he sustained  a broken ulna, radius and elbow. As a result of the incident the employee underwent surgery to have his arm pinned and plated.

At the time of the incident the machine had no guards in place and there was access to dangerous parts of the machine including the driven rollers whilst it was running.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) , that although the company had a risk assessment  in place,  it failed to identify the dangerous parts of the machine and  the control measures required to prevent access to, or stop the movement of, those dangerous parts before a person could enter the danger zone.

Kay Premium Marking Films Limited, Unit 2, Oakwood Close, Pen Y Fan Industrial Park, Crumlin, Gwent, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Regulation 3(1) of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and have been fined £66,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9998.40.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Seren Linton said “This injury could have easily been prevented had the risk been identified.  Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to identify and minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.”

Source HSE Website 22/12/2021

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