Pellet manufacturing company fined £300,000 after employee was killed in a blender

Rettenmaier UK Manufacturing Limited, a Mansfield pellet manufacturing company, was been fined £300,000 (inc. costs) after an employee was killed when he was pulled into an industrial blender. 

The circumstances were:

• The blender was part of a process line in which shredded recycled paper was mixed with bitumen and oil before being pressed into pellets, dried and bagged. 
• The line was installed on a number of floors and was computer controlled with control screens on two floors.
• There was no computer control screen on the same floor as the blender with the control screen in use at the time of the accident on the floor below. 
• There was no line of sight from this control screen to the blender. 
• When the line was running, the factory was noisy.
• There was no written system of work or instructions for isolation and no instruction to lock off isolators. 
• There were no manuals or written instructions for operating plant. 
• There was no proper training for staff. 
• There were no risk assessments for any work on the plant.
• On 21 January 2011, George Major was helping to clear a blockage from machinery.
• A guard had been removed from the machine.
• It had not been isolated and locked off from the electricity supply. 
• The line unexpectedly started up and Mr Major was dragged into the blender and killed.  

The HSE Inspector 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.”