A company was fined £120,000 on Friday, August 21, 2020, after a night shift worker was crushed to death when he was pulled into two giant rollers.
The left side of Brett Dolby’s body became trapped in the Duffy machine at Scapa Tapes in Houghton Regis, Beds.
A workmate told an earlier inquest hearing that he thought the dying screams of the 44-year-old were a Pink Floyd song being played on the radio.
Mr Dolby, of Constable Close, Houghton Regis, had worked at the Scapa, which supplied adhesive tape, since 2013.
Had had operated the Duffy machine for three years before his death at around 11pm on April 10, 2018. Scapa had inherited the Duffy machine from Sellotape in 2004.
When it was sold to Sellotape in 1990 it was not fitted with a guard.
At the inquest hearing in Ampthill last year David Redland of the Health and Safety Executive said: “It was an accident waiting to happen.”
He said a simple mechanical guard or an optical beam could have been installed that would stop the machine if the beam is broken. Factory supervisor Lee Richmond said that he mistook Mr Dolby’s screams for a Pink Floyd song being played on the radio. Last year the inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
At Luton Magistrates Court Scapa, which has now closed its Houghton Regis plant, appeared for sentence having pleaded guilty to failing to ensure persons in its employment were not exposed to health and safety risks.
For Scapa, Tim Green said: “Mr Dolby was obviously much-loved by a wide family and he made a very substantial contribution at work and to family life. The company is devastated by his loss. No penalty can be commensurate with a life.
“The company accepts it did not have a rail and it did not have a guard. It was bought unguarded in 1990. It was properly maintained by Scapa.”
Mr Green said risk assessments had been carried out, but there had simply been an oversight. He said it was not known how Mr Dolby became trapped as there were no eyewitnesses. The machine was decommissioned on the day Mr Dolby died.
The company closed its Houghton Regis site last September and consolidated its operation in Skipton.
Mr Green said it made a £10.5 million loss in 2019, £3 million in 2020 and was set to lose another £3 million this financial year as a result of the pandemic and Brexit uncertainty.
He said the company, which had no previous convictions, had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had co-operated with the Health and Safety investigation.
District Judge Nicholas Leigh-Smith said he had read impact statements from Mr Dolby’s family.
He said: “Nothing I can say and no penalty I pass will ease their loss. I profess my profound sympathies.“
He added nobody could confidently say what led him to becoming trapped.
The judge fined the company £120,000 with £15,192.68 costs and a victim surcharge of £170. It has 12 months to pay.
