Stanley Wire: Worker died after getting tangled in exposed machinery at Penistone wire factory
A Penistone wire manufacturing company was fined £140,000 for health and safety failures after a worker suffered fatal head injuries in one of its machines.
David Lockwood, 45, died after becoming entangled in an unguarded wire drawing and recoiling machine at the Stanley Wire Ltd site, on Talbot Road, Penistone, Barnsley, in November 2021.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company failed to take effective measures to prevent employees accessing the machine's dangerous moving parts.
The firm pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act in a hearing at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Thursday (January 22).
The HSE found there were insufficient safety measures installed to prevent operatives from entering the machine - known as a gravity block - when it was rotating.
There was also no designated competent person on site to provide formal training to operatives, and instead the firm relied on verbal instruction.
Industry-standard safety measures were found to be lacking on multiple machines over a prolonged period.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Charlotte Bligh said: "Following the incident, eight prohibition notices were served on the company.
"The remedial action taken demonstrated that appropriate measures, such as effective guarding, were readily available and could have been put in place had the risks associated with the activity been properly considered.
"Companies are reminded that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required health and safety standards."