West Bromwich engineer, 69, broke his back after getting trapped in saw and died three years after accident
An engineer who broke his back and became paralysed after getting trapped in a rotating saw has died more than three years after the accident.
Richard John Davies, aged 69, died at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford on February 26 this year after sustaining life-changing injuries in an incident on January 4, 2022.
Mr Davies was working at Mountfield CNC Ltd in Droitwich, Worcestershire. He was setting up a computer numerical control machine (CNC), which uses pre-programmed software for machining tools to cut material more accurately.
However, he became trapped in the machine’s saw and suffered a fractured spine, which left him paralysed from the chest down.
An inquest into Mr Davies’s death at Shropshire Coroner’s Court, Guildhall, Shrewsbury, was told that he was born in West Bromwich but lived in Gloucester.
He had been taken to Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen on February 19 this year for an operation.
However, medics decided it was not the right time to carry out the operation, and transferred Mr Davies to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, and then Princess Royal Hospital, which was deemed to be more appropriate for his care.
His condition deteriorated at the Telford hospital and he died on February 26.
John Ellery, senior coroner for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said: “A death following an accident at work will ordinarily require an inquest in front of a jury. But as it was more than 12 months after the accident, a jury inquest is not required.”
He recorded a conclusion of “natural causes, contributed to by an accident at work”.
A Health and Safety Executive investigation into the incident found Mountfield CNC Ltd failed to take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of the machine.
The company was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,094 at Kidderminster Magistrates Court on July 27, 2023 after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
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