Mansfield company fined over 'avoidable' blender death

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-34521211

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A pellet manufacturing company has been ordered to pay £300,000 after a worker was killed when he was pulled into an industrial blender.

George Major, 51, was clearing material from the machine at Rettenmaier UK Manufacturing, in Mansfield, when it unexpectedly started in 2011.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said his death was "avoidable".

The company, fined £200,000 with costs of £100,000, admitted safety breaches at Nottingham Crown Court.

HSE investigators found that Mr Major had been helping to clear a blockage from machinery when he was dragged into the blender and killed.

'Life needlessly lost'

It was discovered that a guard had been removed from the machine, which had not been locked off from the electricity supply.

The company admitted breaching sections of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act and the 1999 Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations.

HSE Inspector Samantha Farrar said: "Mr Major's death was entirely avoidable and his life was needlessly lost.

"The failings by Rettenmaier UK Manufacturing Ltd caused a fatality in particularly distressing circumstances.

"The absence of an effective health and safety management system, including a lack of a safe system of work for equipment isolation and lock-off, risk assessment and proper training for staff, meant that all workers at the site were at risk.

"This tragic incident could have so easily been avoided if a few simple steps had been taken by the company."