A RECYCLING plant worker who suffered fatal injuries after becoming trapped in the drum of a waste separation machine had spoken of his fear of being inside the unit, an inquest heard on Monday.

Simon Hogg, 47, died of multiple injuries sustained in the incident involving the trommel machine, a large cylindrical drum used to separate waste, at the John Wade recycling plant, at Aycliffe Village, near Newton Aycliffe.

An inquest heard Mr Hogg, of Hurworth Place, near Darlington, climbed inside the drum with colleague Ray Garrett to clear a blockage on the morning of December 12, 2015.

Crook Coroner’s Court was shown CCTV footage by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which appeared to show the pair working on the so-called “picking line” with two other workers, site manager David Basham and banksman David McEntaggert.

Inspector Michael Kingston told an 11-member jury it was the HSE’s reading from the 25-minute clip that six minutes after the pair were understood to have entered the machine, Mr Basham used a long pole to operate buttons, with the help of Mr McEntaggert, which started the picking line conveyor belt and the trommel machine.

He told the court four minutes later another blockage was identified and Mr McEntaggert pulled a cord which also stopped the trommel.

Mr Kingston said the trommel rotates at the speed of “brisk walking pace”. It was not until Mr McEntaggert was at the rear of the machine, manually pulling out paper to unblock it, that he discovered the arm of Mr Garrett “sticking out of the machine”, Mr Kingston said.

 

The recycling centre, pictured at the time of the incident

It is the HSE’s account that Mr McEntaggert leaves the scene to get assistance from mobile plant operator John Bennett and that both return and climb inside to help.

However, they say Mr Hogg remained undiscovered.

Mr Kingston said: “Initially Simon Hogg doesn’t get discovered. It’s dark in there and they go straight to the aid of Ray Garrett.”

He added: “They make the call to the emergency services. It’s during that call they discover Simon Hogg is in there as well.”

A post mortem report concluded Mr Hogg died of torso injuries, including rib fractures, lung damage and damage to his spinal cord.

The jury also heard a statement from Mr Hogg’s aunt, Denise Pearce, dating from December 2015, in which she said her nephew had spoken of his fear of being inside the machine.

She added he had been off work for the first six months of the year due to a foot ulcer.

Bruce Whitely, operations director for Stonegrave Aggregates, owned by the John Wade Group, gave evidence.

Questions were put to him about safety protocol, responsibility for safety, training and the tasks undertaken by employees outside of their normal roles that day.

The inquest continues.