Forum members might find this recent UK prosecution to be a useful conversation starter when discussing the ethics of health & safety, particularly with those managers who struggle to grasp that their responsibilities include the need to act with urgency when they have been told a process is unsafe.

A machine operator died when he entered a blocked baler, which re-started while he was still inside.

The baler used to have an interlock to prevent this, but a technician had disarmed it because some wiring had been damaged, possibly by rats. Knowing that this modification left the machine unsafe to use, he emailed management to warn them about it.

The bypassed interlock continued to feature on daily defect reports that circulated to management, but the company continued to run the modified baler for another five years before the fatal incident.

In court, the email trail proving management knew about the defective machine helped convict the company and its owner, who was jailed.