At Durham Crown Court Thyssenkrup Tallent, now trading as Tallent Automative Ltd-Gestamp Automocion, pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety of a worker in respect of a fatal accident at its Newton Aycliffe plant in County Durham where an engineer died in a press crush accident. The company was fined £100K plus £40K in costs.
On July 8th 2009, the engineer was trying to clear a blockage jamming the de-stacker carriage which removed empty magazines from the press.
HSE investigation found that there was no safe system for carrying out the work within the de-stacker area, the company recognized electrical hazards but not risks from pneumatically operated equipment. There was insufficient information to show how the pneumatic supply worked and how to make necessary adjustments safely. The equipment supplier had gone into liquidation and insufficient documentation was passed on.
