Army veteran killed in 'deathtrap' workshop

摘要

THE death of a former soldier inside an industrial mixer has landed a building materials manufacturer and its director with ?30,000 in penalties after cut-out switches on the machine failed. Paul Palmer, who had served in Bosnia and Kuwait, became caught up in the 1500 litre capacity mixer's rotating blade in August 2005 while working for Building Chemical Research (1984) at its factory in Radcliffe, Bolton. The company makes mortars, fillers and adhe-sives for the construction industry. At the end of a production run using the mixer in BCR's "liquid workshop", Palmer had climbed into the machine to clean residue from the blades, and while he was still inside, another employee under the machine started it up. It should have been impossible to switch on the mixer with someone inside it, but the interlock on the mixer's hatch and a separate isolation switch both failed.