Recycling firm fined over leg injury

A SALFORD recycling firm has been fined £10,000 after an employee nearly lost his right leg after it became trapped in a machine.

Roydon Polythene (Exports) was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found workers at the plant at Junction Eco Park were routinely put at risk when they tried to remove blockages.

Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard how the employee had been trying to clear a jam in a glass sorting machine on October 16, 2013. He was lifted in a mobile elevating work platform, similar to a cherry picker, before climbing out of the basket and onto a conveyor belt, more than four metres above the ground. As he tried to clear the blockage, his right leg was drawn into the machinery.

His leg was trapped for more than two hours while emergency services tried to cut him free. He sustained significant injuries, requiring multiple operations, and the 41-year-old may never regain full use of his leg.

The court was told that it had become routine for workers to climb from the lifting basket onto the conveyor belt to clear blockages from an unguarded part of the machine. There were also no guard rails around the edge of the conveyor to prevent employees from falling to the ground below.

Roydon Polythene, of Rake Lane in Swinton, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £1,221 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to single breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company is part of the Roydon Group whose shareholders are Janette Jenkins, Roy and Gareth Wallwork, Sarah and Wilfred Sumner and John Davies.

HSE Inspector Jackie Worrall said: “A worker has suffered severe injuries that will affect him for the rest of his life because his employer failed in its duty to ensure he stayed safe at work. This wasn’t a one-off incident. Instead, workers were routinely expected to climb onto the conveyor belt to clear blockages from an unguarded part of the machine, putting their lives at risk. It was therefore almost inevitable that someone would be injured, either by becoming trapped in the machine or falling to the ground below.

“Roydon Polythene should have carried out a proper assessment of the risks facing its employees, and taken action to put safety measures in place. If it had then the worker’s injuries could have been avoided.”