A maintenance engineer working a night shift at a factory on Knowsley Industrial Park reached through a hole cut into the side of a running conveyor to clear a blockage. His arm was pulled into the machine. There was no guard in place and no emergency stop button in the area, and because he was working alone, he could only wave at a CCTV camera for help before freeing himself after around 40 seconds. Factory Services UK Limited has since been fined £160,000 after an HSE investigation and a guilty plea. The case is a stark, local reminder of what proper machinery guarding is for, and what happens when it is missing.
What happened at Knowsley Industrial Park
On 18 March 2025, maintenance engineer Daniel Slinger was working a night shift at Factory Services UK Limited’s animal-feed site on Moorgate Road, Deacon Park, Knowsley Industrial Park, when he was asked to look at a problem with a conveyor. While it was still running, he reached through a hole in the side of the conveyor casing to clear away some material. His arm was drawn into the moving machinery.
There was no guard in place and no emergency stop button in the area. Working alone, with nobody nearby to see or hear what had happened, he repeatedly waved at a CCTV camera in the hope that whoever was monitoring it would notice and raise the alarm. Nobody did. After around 40 seconds, he managed to free his arm himself.
Mr Slinger suffered catastrophic injuries to his forearm and hand, including a fracture and extensive degloving. He needed multiple operations and blood transfusions, continues to receive specialist treatment, and remains unable to return to work.
What HSE’s investigation found
The detail that makes this case worth pausing on is not just the accident itself, but how long the danger had existed. HSE’s investigation established that the hole in the conveyor casing had been cut years earlier so workers could clear blockages while the machine kept running, rather than stopping it properly. A second conveyor on the same site was found to have a similar unauthorised access point.
This had happened despite the company’s own safe systems of work requiring machinery to be guarded and isolated before any maintenance or cleaning. It had also gone unnoticed through routine inspections, management walkarounds and audits. That is perhaps the most important lesson here for any employer. Having a safe system of work written down, and regularly checking the workplace, is not the same as that system actually being followed on the shop floor, shift after shift, when nobody senior is watching.
The legal outcome, and what a fine does and does not do
Factory Services UK Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the core duty an employer owes to protect its own staff. At Warrington Magistrates’ Court on 8 September 2026, the company was fined £160,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,728.
It is worth being clear about what that fine represents, because this is a point people often misunderstand. The £160,000 was a criminal penalty, paid to the state as punishment for breaking the law and to deter similar failures. It is not compensation, and none of it goes to Mr Slinger for his own injuries, lost income, treatment, care or future needs.
We are not instructed in Mr Slinger’s case, and nothing here should be read as a comment on it specifically. But as a general point, where an HSE prosecution follows a workplace injury like this, the injured worker may also have a separate right to bring a civil claim for compensation against their employer, entirely independent of whatever criminal penalty the court imposes.
The safety standard this case highlights
Beyond the general duty under the 1974 Act, the detailed standard for machinery like this sits in Regulation 11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, usually known as PUWER. It requires employers to take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery, or to stop those parts moving before anyone can reach them. It also sets out a clear order of protection: fixed guards first, then other guards or protection devices such as interlocks, then other protective measures, with training and instruction supporting the system rather than replacing it.
A hole deliberately cut into a guard so a job could be done slightly faster is about as direct a breach of that hierarchy as it gets. It is also a pattern that comes up again and again in machinery accident cases, where a guard has been removed, propped open or modified over time to save a few seconds, and the shortcut becomes normalised long before anyone is hurt by it.
If you’ve been hurt in a conveyor belt or machinery accident at work
Most conveyor and machinery accidents we see share a handful of causes, and each points to a specific failure in your employer’s duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
- Missing, removed or defeated guarding around moving parts, pinch points or rollers
- No emergency stop within easy reach of where people actually work
- Being expected to clear blockages or carry out maintenance without the machine being properly isolated first
- Inadequate training on a specific machine, especially after it has been modified or replaced
- Being left to work alone on hazardous equipment with no effective way to raise an alarm
If any of these contributed to your accident, you may well have a valid accident at work claim. As with any work accident claim, a few of the common mistakes people make with a work accident claim are worth avoiding, chief among them not gathering evidence early enough. Photographs of the machine and any guarding, the names of anyone who saw what happened, and a copy of the accident book entry all matter, and your solicitor can also seek maintenance records, risk assessments, training records and any relevant RIDDOR paperwork once your claim is under way.
Time limits and funding
You generally have three years from the date of the accident to start court proceedings, under the Limitation Act 1980, though this can run separately from any HSE investigation or prosecution. The HSE process follows its own timetable and does not pause your own civil claim deadline.
Claims like this are commonly handled on a no win no fee basis, so there is no upfront legal cost to finding out where you stand, and how the personal injury claim process works is worth reading if you want a fuller picture before you call.
Frequently asked questions
A few of the questions we are asked most often about conveyor belt and machinery accidents at work.
If HSE prosecutes my employer, do I still need to make my own claim?
Yes. An HSE prosecution and fine is a separate criminal matter between HSE and your employer. It does not compensate you, and you will still need to bring your own civil claim to recover compensation for your injury and losses.
Can I claim if I was partly to blame, for example for reaching into the machine myself?
Often, yes. If your employer failed to guard the machine properly, provide an emergency stop, enforce isolation procedures or give adequate training, you may still have a claim even if your own actions played some part. Your compensation could be reduced to reflect any contributory negligence, but that does not automatically defeat the claim.
What if the machine has since been fixed or modified?
This does not affect your right to claim for what happened before the fix. What matters is the condition of the machine, the safe system of work and the employer’s risk control at the time of your accident. Early photographs, witness evidence and maintenance records can be important if the machine has changed since.
Does it matter if I was an agency worker or contractor rather than a direct employee?
Not necessarily. Whoever controlled the workplace, the system of work and the machinery may owe duties to people working there, whatever their employment status. The detail depends on the contract, the site arrangements and who had practical control over the risk.
How much compensation could I get for a serious hand or arm injury?
This depends entirely on the severity and long-term impact of your injury. Your solicitor will value the injury using medical evidence alongside the Judicial College Guidelines, then add your actual financial losses, such as lost earnings, treatment, care, equipment and future support.
Talk to Mark Reynolds Solicitors
Cases like the one at Knowsley are a reminder that serious machinery accidents are rarely a one-off stroke of bad luck. They usually trace back to a guard that was missing, a shortcut that became routine, or a system that looked fine on paper but was not being followed in practice. If you have been hurt by a conveyor belt or other machinery at work, we can help you understand whether your employer’s failings contributed, and what your claim could be worth. We act on a no win, no fee basis. Contact our team for a free, no obligation conversation. We have offices in Liverpool, Runcorn and Warrington.