£400k fine after worker suffers fatal injuries

A company has been fined £400,000 following the death of a worker who was pulled into and became trapped in unguarded machinery at a paper mill.
 
The fatally injured employee was trying to identify a problem that was causing creases in the large rolls of industrial paper being produced, as he climbed onto a work platform to check if the creases were caused by problems on a large, moving felt belt, used to squeeze water out of the pulp mixture.
It was likely that he was dragged onto the felt belt which then ripped and he fell into the machinery below, causing fatal crush injuries, and was pronounced dead at hospital having been taken there by an ambulance.
The business pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined a total of £400,000 and ordered to pay £34,761.67 in costs.