Two companies have been ordered to pay more than £450,000 in fines and costs for serious breaches of safety after a Stockport factory worker found his brother lying dead in the bed of a machine,
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Unisign and WFEL Ltd after an employee suffered fatal head injuries at the WFEL plant on Crossley Road in Heaton Chapel on 12 January 2008.
Manchester Crown Court heard the 38-year-old father-of-two had been working on a large machine used to manufacture bridges for the military.
An HSE investigation found that he had been leaning over a part of the machine to try and fix a fault with one of the switches when a large hydraulic ram descended on him. He was discovered by his brother, who also worked at the factory.
Netherlands-based firm Unisign Produktie Automatisering BV, which designed and manufactured the machine, was found to have supplied a machine which did not comply with European safety standards, as access should not have been possible when the machine was running at full speed.
The company was fined £200,000 after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 6 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £28,313.
WFEL Ltd was also prosecuted after it failed to ensure a safe system was in place for workers using the machine. The company was fined £200,000 with costs of £28,074 after admitting a breach of the Section 2 of the same Act.
Speaking after the hearing, Brian Miller’s sister, Linda Smitham, 44, said:
"Brian's death has devastated us and leaves a massive hole in all our lives, especially for his partner, Trish, who faces her future without him by her side.
"It saddens us greatly knowing a life had to be lost before forcing high priority safety measures to be put in place.
"Lessons have been learnt from this tragedy and we hope no other family will have to suffer the pain and trauma of losing a loved one in the way we have.
"The verdict at the inquest was accidental death. However, this accident was preventable. Today has confirmed that Brian should have come home from work that day."
HSE Inspector Philip Strickland added:
"This was a tragic death which could have been avoided if both the machine manufacturer and the factory owner had put more thought into the safety of the people using the machine.
"Unisign should not have supplied a machine which fell below accepted standards and did not have suitable guards and safety systems installed to protect workers. WFEL should have made sure its employees only fixed faults when the machine was in a safe state.
"It simply should not have been possible to access dangerous parts of the machine while it was still operating, but both Unisign and WFEL allowed this to happen."
A quarter of all workplace deaths occurred in the manufacturing industry in 2011/12, despite the sector only accounting for around 10% of the British workforce. A total of 31 people lost their lives while working in the sector, and more than 17,000 injuries were reported.
Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."
Section 6(1) states: "It shall be the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work or any article of fairground equipment to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed that it will be safe and without risks to health at all times when it is being set, used, cleaned or maintained by a person at work."