Packaging Firm Fined Over Conveyor Accident

Integrated Packaging Ltd of Team Valley Trading estate, Gateshead has been fined £1,000 with £2,734 costs after an employee put his hand into a machine to remove a jammed item, but suffered friction burns and a fracture to his wrist when it became jammed between a suction table conveyor belt and a delivery table conveyor belt.

The October 2008 incident put the company in breach of rule 11 (1) of the Provision of Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in that it failed to ensure that effective measures were taken to prevent access by employees to dangerous parts of machinery.