A company has been fined £1.3 million following the death of a maintenance technician at its Telford factory.
On 13 December 2018, the employee was performing maintenance on a large press machine (a 1968 vintage Weingarten press) at the company’s site in Telford. During the work, the 47-year-old technician was struck by the machine’s spinning flywheel after the guarding had been missing for at least two years, despite prior warnings about its condition. He sustained catastrophic head injuries and died four days later.
Investigators from West Mercia Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that a 10-tonne flywheel had been operating without a protective guard for at least two years, despite repeated warnings from staff, union representatives, and the certification company. The elevated platform where the technician carried out maintenance was described as oily, greasy, and poorly lit, situated dangerously close to the exposed flywheel.
The court was told that there had been a catalogue of failings, including ignored staff concerns, leading up to the incident – failings the regulator described as ‘completely avoidable’.
Although the machine was subject to periodic inspections, the missing guard was never replaced, and the serious risk to workers was repeatedly overlooked.
In April 2024 the company was charged with corporate manslaughter and a breach of duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act . The corporate manslaughter charge was dropped in July 2025, and four individuals also charged were acquitted.
The company pleaded guilty to a charge under section 2(1) of the Act – failing to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that persons in its employment were not exposed to risk of death or serious injury. At Stafford Crown Court the fine of £1.3 million plus court costs was handed down.
Source – IOSH
