Factory accident news
05/01/2011

Packaging manufacturer employee's fatal accident at work

The family of a Derbyshire factory worker, who died in September 2006, can now claim compensation for his fatal accident at work.

In May 2010 the firm responsible for the 50-year-old's factory accident admitted liability for the death and to breaching sections of the Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974, by failing to take precautions to keep employees safe in the workplace.

Speaking of the family's situation, the man's ex-wife said, "The last few years have just been horrendous. His children now have to live without a father for the rest of their lives because of the company's negligence."

The worker was carrying out some maintenance work inside a cut-and-crease machine in the packaging company at which he had been employed for less than two months, when the operator of the machine switched it on.

When the machine was activated, bars that moved cardboard through the machine hit the maintenance man on the head and killed him instantly.

The investigating HSE inspector, Eddy Tarn said after the court hearing that, "If a simple procedure for cutting the power supply to the machine had been followed then (his) death could have been avoided".

Four years after the man's death, the company was fined £50,000 for failing to ensure the employee's safety, and ordered to pay £76,150 in costs.

Now that the firm has been found liable for the fatal accident at work, his family might be able to claim compensation for their pain, suffering and financial difficulties since the death of their loved one.