Plastics firm fined following fatal machinery accident

• Employee became trapped in unguarded machine and died at the scene.

• Company failed to carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessment.

• Company fined £277,500.

  
  

A plastics conversion company based in Derbyshire has been fined £277,500 after an employee sustained fatal injuries when he became trapped in the moving parts of an unguarded machine.

Paul Whalley, 46, was employed by Reflex Flexible Packaging Ltd at their factory on Amber Drive, Langley Mill, when the incident occurred.

On 29 May 2020, Mr Whalley entered an opening in the side of a plastic conversion machine that permitted whole-body access to dangerous moving parts. The area contained several unguarded mechanisms, and Mr Whalley became trapped in the machine.

Despite efforts by the emergency services, including cutting conveyor belts and rollers to free him, he sadly died at the scene from crush asphyxia.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Reflex Flexible Packaging Ltd failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for operation of the machine.

The company had not installed appropriate guarding to prevent access to dangerous parts and had no written safe systems of work or isolation procedures in place.

HSE guidance states that employers must take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery.

This typically involves fixed guarding, but where routine access is required, interlocked guards may be needed to stop movement before a person can reach the danger zone.

Further information is available in HSE’s Safe Use of Work Equipment – Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) and its Approved Code of Practice: Safe use of work equipment (PUWER).

Reflex Flexible Packaging Ltd, of Hamilton Way, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

The company was fined £277,500 and ordered to pay £20,000 in costs at Derby Crown Court on 5 November 2025.

LESH Comments:

This is a tragic incident, and one just round the corner from our office. Our thoughts are with the family of Mr Whalley.

This type of situation is all too common, we help companies every week with insufficient guarding, guiding them through the legislative landscape, standards and practical guarding methods to keep their staff safe.

We believe there is a huge gap in competence with regards to machinery safety, most manufacturers don't understand what is required, many safety professionals avoid or overlook the topic or down play it because they don't understand it either. Basic guarding can be incredibly simple, but functional machinery safety can be an incredibly complex topic, we would urge manufacturers and machinery users to seek clarification or guidance to ensure your machinery is safe.