A machine operator was fatally injured after he was trapped by the arm of a robot palletiser at a fertiliser factory. The deceased inadvertently activated a light sensor, which caused the arm to move and trap him against the steel rollers of the pickup station.
An additional gate had been installed in the perimeter fence after the robot had been commissioned, but there was no form of guarding and there was a gap in the perimeter fence that allowed persons to squeeze through without activating any safety devices.
The deceased entered the fenced area when power to the robot was not isolated.
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