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14 year old needed four operations after accident on machine

24/12/2002

A SCHOOLBOY needed four operations after his shirt sleeve was caught and his hand and arm trapped in a dispatch department conveyor belt at a Middleton pillow manufacturing company, a court heard.

Bedcrest Ltd, of Harvester House, St Peter Street, Manchester, was fined £2,000 with £923 costs to pay after it admitted breaching health and safety regulations by failing to ensure that a person not in its employment was not exposed to risk during the loading of goods at its Albany Mill premises in Old Hall Street, Middleton.

The bench made an order not to disclose the name of the high school boy, from Rishworth, Ripponden.

Mr Chris Gallagher, on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive, said during the Easter break the 14-year-old boy had been allowed to travel as a passenger by his father who was a heavy goods vehicle driver for an Oldham haulage company, Darlington Transport.

They were delivering to Bedcrest at Middleton and the teenager had wandered onto the loading bay.

Nobody had warned him away.

The boy had gone to the delivery conveyor belt and had offered to lend a hand. His shirt sleeve was caught and, screaming, his hand and arm were pulled into the rollers. Hearing the screams, staff in the loading bay reversed the action of the conveyor.

The boy's hand and arm began to swell and he was rushed to hospital for surgery to relieve pressure on his muscles. Four operations followed and the boy was in hospital for 16 days.

Even now the youth could not fully clench his fist, said Mr Gallagher. The boy had also lost a lot of time off school.

Mr Gallagher said the machine was not guarded and the boy, as an unauthorised person, should have been removed from the bay.

Nobody had told him to leave.

The Oldham transport company had also been written to in respect of allowing a driver to be accompanied by an unauthorised passenger, but the accident occurred at the Middleton factory and there should have been "strict and robust" rules and signage in place there.

"The preventative measures now taken are adequate, but regrettably a serious accident to a child pre-empted that action and it is to be hoped the company in future will be more pro-active in respect of health and safety matters," Mr Gallagher commented.

Managing director Mr Robert Moryoussef said the company had only been bought two years ago and the previous owners had carried out a risk assessment. With the benefit of hindsight the judgement by the previous owners would appear to have been questionable given events.

"As employers we treat health and safety matters with the utmost seriousness. We have a structure of monthly meetings and we are reviewing the risk assessment undertaken by the previous owners and this is ongoing. We have a good health and safety record and this is the first time we have been involved in such a prosecution," said Mr Moryoussef

The firm employs 60 people at Oldham.