Personal Injury Solicitors

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has successfully prosecuted a Sussex firm and the manufacturer of a remote control, after a scrap metal worker became trapped in the doors of a baling machine and had both legs amputated as a result.

The incident occurred in May 2011, when an unnamed 42-year-old employee of the firm H Ripley & Co of Westfield, East Sussex entered the 5-metre long baling machine to deal with a problem.

The baler was used to compact scrap metal and processed scrap from “car to cube” in one minute and 15 seconds. The maximum force of its doors was 180 tonnes.

The doors of the 16-tonne machine began to close with the worker inside and when he tried to stop them using the machine’s remote control, they did not respond.

During his attempt to escape from the baling machine, the force of the machinery’s “jaws” trapped his legs, severing one leg and injuring the other so badly that surgeons were forced to amputate it.

An HSE investigation into the incident found the company’s isolation procedure for the baler completely inadequate.

HSE inspectors also found the remote control – built by the co-defendant in the case, John Platt – seriously flawed in its design.

HSE inspectors also found that a lack of suitable controls meant workers were able to get too close to the potentially lethal crushing and shearing components of the machine.

H Ripley & Co – which has three sites in East Sussex and two others in Kent – bought the baling machine secondhand and fire-damaged in 2008. The machine’s radio controlled system required rebuilding.

However, HSE found that the remote control manufactured and installed by John Platt had several serious flaws – and as a result, it failed to activate once the baler doors started closing. The remote was also not robust enough for the demands of working in a scrap metal yard, the HSE investigation found.
On Tuesday (24/06/14) at Lewes Crown Court, H Ripley & Co – based at North Street, Hailsham in West Sussex – was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £34,633 in full costs, after admitting breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

John Platt of John Platt Services, Bramble Lane in Thakeham, West Sussex, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 6(1) of the Health & Safety Act. Mr Platt was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Stephen Green said:
“There are well-known and significant risks in the waste and recycling sector – and it is imperative that employers fully identify and recognise those risks on their sites and take the necessary action to protect their workforce from the dangers they present.

“H Ripley & Co had completely neglected to consider the risks and identify control measures needed to operate the machine safely – it had failed to ensure that there was a system to isolate the machine from power before anyone could get inside.
“It appears that no thought was given to the safety aspects of the remote units for the baler, or the way they worked – had original remotes been sourced, or had John Platt manufactured fully functional alternatives, it is likely the incident would not have happened.

“This was a horrific incident in which a worker suffered the loss of both legs, endured a sixth-month period in hospital – and who will now spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

“It was also entirely preventable,” Mr Green added.

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