The 52 year old employee from Wells who wishes to remain anonymous was on his evening shift on the production line at Brothers Drinks Co Ltd plant on the Anglo Trading Estate Shepton Mallet when he was injured on 12th July 2012.
The depalletiser machine which takes empty bottles to be filled stopped and the employee went to find out what the stoppage was. The Court heard he put his hand in the machine it automatically caught his clothing and pulled his right arm into the moving parts the court heard.
He pulled his arm free but was badly injured in the process. He had several cuts to his arm and his bicep was severed.
Following the incident he required three operations in order to save his live and his arm. He is now back at work but may need further operations as he is still in pain. Due to the incident he has increased chance of blood clots and has to have counselling for his post-traumatic stress.
The Health and Safety Executive reported on their website.
‘HSE found that Brothers Drinks Co Ltd had made modifications to the access to the depalletiser sometime before the incident but had failed to install an interlocking device or guard to prevent workers accessing the machinery while it was still active.
The injured man did not usually work at that machine and was covering for a colleague at the time of the incident. He had been given no additional training or information about the machine he was asked to work on.’
The drinks company Brothers Drinks Co Ltd were ordered to pay a fine of £10000 and £12859 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
