Man crushed by pet food machine
June 5, 2007
An engineer was crushed to death as he tried to clear a blockage in a machine at a pet food factory in Northamptonshire, an inquest heard.
John O'Connor, 38, who lived in Pine Grove, Rugby, died in November 2003 at Butchers Pet Care in Crick.
The inquest heard he was working an evening shift when a can stacking machine became clogged and he tried to unblock it.
The inquest is continuing in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire.
It heard that despite a number of guard rails and sensors to cut power to the huge machine and its pallet hoists in an emergency, Mr O'Connor was able to reach through a gap in between two guard rails to unblock the machine.
Safety inquiry
The machine started back up and the motorised pallet hoist raised, crushing Mr O'Connor in less than two seconds.
A post-mortem examination confirmed the cause of death was crush asphyxia.
Det Insp Andy Tennet, of Northamptonshire Police, said the Health and Safety Executive immediately halted the machine's use after the death.
He said: "On the night in question Mr O'Connor probably heard an alarm sounding.
"When he got to the machine he entered the machine via the gap in the stair area and reached to free the pallet.
"The moment the pallet was freed the sensors recognised this and the hoist was reset. As the machine was empty it would have risen quite quickly."
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