Desperate workmates tried to save engineer

May 1 2008 by Chris Robinson, The Journal

A GERMAN engineer living in Northumberland died after falling into machinery at work, an inquest heard yesterday.

Jens Hinrichs, 36, fractured his skull in the accident at Hydro Aluminium Extrusion, Gateshead.

Colleagues of the project engineer, who lived at Ridsdale, north of Hexham, described the moment he fell from a conveyor belt in the packing section of the Birtley plant.

A jury at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard colleagues had climbed into the machinery to give first aid.

Lynne Nichols, who called an ambulance, said she had heard a bang, a shout for help and then screaming before seeing Mr Hinrichs trapped.

Miss Nichols climbed into the machinery to try to give first aid with colleague Ken Lyall, who began clearing Mr Hinrichs’s airway of blood.

She said: “I couldn’t move him, I couldn’t get him from where he was.”

The jury heard that the machinery, which transferred aluminium products from a conveyor belt, had been installed two years earlier and staff had been trained in operating it. Process worker Mr Lyall said: “I heard her screaming, turned around and I could see someone was trapped where the shuttle was.

“I jumped straight into the machinery. When I got there I could tell he was badly injured by that stage.”

Elaine Skelton told the packed inquest – which included Mr Hinrichs’s parents and brother who had travelled from Oldenburg, Germany – that he had tried to steady himself with arms outstretched on the frame of a conveyor belt before falling, at about 1.30pm on November 2, 2006.

She said: “I heard the rumble, saw the movement and Jens looked at me and shouted ‘whoa’ and I instantly knew something was wrong. I ran to the emergency stop button.

“All emergency stop buttons I have ever pressed have twisted but this one – it didn’t feel like it worked. I had to keep my hand on the button because I could still hear the shuttle moving and I was screaming for help.”

Consultant pathologist Dr Anita Nayar said Mr Hinrichs had suffered multiple injuries to his chest, abdomen, right arm and leg and a fractured pelvis, but had died from a fracture to the base of the skull. He had an enlarged heart and furring of coronary arteries and might have suffered a heart attack which led to his fall.

Coroner Terrence Carney adjourned the inquest when illness cut the jury to six, below the legal minimum.