Plastic packaging manufacturer Reflex Flexible Packaging Limited has been fined £60,000 after a worker suffered a severe crush injury when their hand was drawn into the rollers of a laminating machine at its Telford site.
The incident occurred in January 2025.. The worker, a laminator operative and shift supervisor employed by the company, was cleaning the machine’s rollers using rags after a production run had finished.
During the cleaning process, a rag became caught between two in running rollers and pulled the worker’s left hand into the nip point. Their hand was drawn into the machine up to the wrist.
Colleague activates emergency stop
A colleague immediately activated the emergency stop, allowing the worker to free their hand from the machine.
The worker was taken to hospital with a severe crush injury. They underwent two operations on their left hand, spent four nights in hospital and later required physiotherapy to rebuild strength in the injured hand.
HSE identifies guarding failures
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Reflex Flexible Packaging Limited had failed to ensure effective measures were in place to prevent access to the dangerous moving parts of the laminating machine.
The company had failed to provide a fixed guard to prevent access to the in running nip point between the rollers during cleaning operations.
HSE also found that the company’s risk assessment and safe system of work were not suitable and sufficient.
The cleaning operation had not been properly assessed and the risk of a worker being drawn into the machine during cleaning had not been identified.
The safe system of work also failed to provide clear instructions regarding the use of the foot pedal to rotate the rollers during cleaning.
Machinery safety guidance highlighted
HSE guidance states that employers must take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery.
Where access to dangerous parts is foreseeable, employers should follow the hierarchy of control measures set out in the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, giving priority to engineering controls such as fixed guarding wherever reasonably practicable.
Risk assessments should consider normal production activities as well as cleaning, maintenance and repair tasks where dangerous parts may become accessible to workers.
Second sentencing within a year
The sentencing is the second involving Reflex Flexible Packaging Limited in less than a year.
The company was sentenced in November 2025 after an employee died when he became trapped in an unguarded machine at its site in Langley Mill, Derbyshire.
The latest prosecution relates solely to the separate Telford incident.
Reflex Flexible Packaging Limited, of Vision House, Hamilton Way, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, NG18 5BU, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
The company was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £4,464 in costs at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 10 August.
HSE Inspector Zach Morris said: “This incident was entirely preventable. Reflex Flexible Packaging Limited failed to ensure that effective measures were in place to prevent access to dangerous parts of the laminating machine during cleaning operations.
“This is the second time in less than a year that this company has been sentenced for health and safety offences, following a fatal incident at another of its sites. Dangerous moving parts of machinery continue to cause serious injuries in workplaces across Great Britain.
“Dutyholders should not focus solely on normal machine operation when considering access to dangerous parts.
“They must also consider activities such as cleaning, maintenance, and repair where workers may be exposed to dangerous parts of machinery that are inaccessible during normal operations.
“HSE will not hesitate to take enforcement action against dutyholders who fail to protect workers from these well-known and foreseeable risks.”
