DS Smith Packaging fined £60k after accident

The 27-year-old worker, who asked to not to be named, was being trained to use a re-winder or rotating spool at the firm’s factory in Louth, Lincolnshire. The machine winds corrugated cardboard packaging into a roll.

Lincoln Crown Court heard that the accident happened on June 9 2010 as a second member of staff was showing the worker how to attach the cardboard to the spool. After the man’s fingers became trapped in the machine, the second man, unaware of what had happened, started the machine.

Thrown over the top​

The worker was thrown over the top of the machine breaking his right arm in several places and fracturing his ribs.

After taking a year off work the man, who now has pins and plates in his arm, returned to work for the firm.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found there was no safe system of work in place and the incident could have been prevented easily.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Emma Madeley said: “There was nothing to prevent the machine being started before people were clear of the danger zone. Having a second operator created a serious risk because the man operating the controls had no idea that his colleague was trapped.​

Permanent injuries​

“That working practice has now been changed. The company has also installed a guard so that the machine cannot begin rotating at speed if someone's hands are in the danger area. Unfortunately these measures have come too late for this employee who has been left with severe and permanent injuries.”​

DS Smith Packaging pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The firm was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,244.