Smurfit Kappa fined £200k after worker loses fingers

A PACKAGING firm which has its headquarters in Liverpool has been fined £200,000 after an employee severely injured both of his hands when they became trapped in heavy machinery at a factory.

The 25-year-old from Egremont, who has asked not to be named, lost four fingers and severed parts of two others in the incident at the Smurfit Kappa UK site at Richmond Works in Hensingham, Cumbria, on September 14, 2010.

The company was prosecuted on March 21 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the employee had not received suitable training and was not being appropriately supervised at the time he was injured.

Carlisle Crown Court heard he had been working on a machine, known as a power press, which exerts forces of up to 35 tonnes to stamp out metal lids, used at either end of cardboard tubes in packaging for whisky bottles.

The employee had been changing the part of the machine used to produce the lids, and was testing it to make sure it produced the correct size of lid. As he reached under the pressing tool to remove the lid, it stamped down on his hands.

He lost the little and ring fingers on his left hand, and the ring and middle fingers on his right hand. The little and index fingers on his right hand were also severed to the second knuckle.

The court was told that the employee’s supervisor had left the company four months before the incident, in May 2010, but that the workers who took over his supervision had not received suitable training. The injured worker had also not been given sufficient training on how to operate the machine safely, and there wasn’t a suitable risk assessment in place for the work.

Smurfit Kappa UK Ltd pleaded guilty to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 after it failed to ensure the safety of its employees. The company, of Water Street in Pier Head, Liverpool, was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay £19,308 in prosecution costs.

HSE Inspector Andrew Jewitt said: “The employee was off work for ten months due to the extent of his injuries, but they will continue to affect him for the rest of his life. He now struggles with everyday activities, like writing and cutting up food, which most of us take for granted.

“The risk of serious injury from power presses is well known in the manufacturing industry and the worker’s injuries could have been avoided if Smurfit Kappa had made sure he and his supervisors had been properly trained. Incidents like this will continue to happen if employers don’t take the risks seriously.”