Laminating Machine Used for Only One Month Causes Death by Crushing

On August 22, the Dongguan Emergency Management Bureau in Guangdong released the "Investigation Report on the '6-5' General Mechanical Injury Accident at Dongguan Daojiao Yinghui Mould Co., Ltd."

Around 9 a.m. on June 5, 2025, a mechanical injury accident occurred at Dongguan Yinghui Mould Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yinghui Company"), located at No. 1 Lizhoujiao First Road, Nanya Village, Daojiao Town, Dongguan City. The accident resulted in one fatality, and the direct economic loss was estimated to be approximately 1.22 million RMB.

Accident process

At around 9 a.m. that day, Yu Moumou, a worker from Yinghui Company, was carrying out shutdown maintenance on another injection molding machine next to the equipment involved in the incident. Without any warning, he suddenly heard a loud shout, followed by the alarm sounding and the warning light flashing on the equipment involved. The entire set of machinery then stopped operating.

Yu [name] heard the noise and went to check, finding Ni [name] lying on the ground (the location is a passage between the injection molding machine and the laminating machine, approximately 0.6 meters wide).

At around 9:25, the 120 ambulance arrived at the scene. After an on-site examination, the medical personnel confirmed that Ni Moumou had shown no signs of life.

Around 9:35, the police arrived at the scene and contacted the Dongguan City Funeral Home. At around 1:00 PM, staff from the Dongguan City Funeral Home arrived at the scene and transported Ni's body to the funeral home.

There are 12 production lines in the injection molding workshop where the incident occurred. The equipment involved is located at the upper left corner of the workshop entrance. (Partial plan view of the injection molding workshop)

Accident Reconstruction

Based on the on-site investigation, technical analysis of the accident scene by technical personnel, combined with the job responsibilities of Ni Moumou and the descriptions of the accident scene by relevant witnesses, the accident investigation team inferred that the sequence of events was roughly as follows:

During an inspection of the equipment involved, Ni Moumou risked crossing the passage between the injection molding machine and the laminating machine. While passing through the laminating area of the laminating machine, he accidentally raised his head and was crushed to death by the moving head of the laminating machine.

(Diagram of Inferred Accident Process)

Cause of the accident

The investigation report indicates the direct cause of the accident:

Ni Moumou had a weak sense of safety and took the risk of passing through the passage between the injection molding machine and the laminating machine. While passing through the laminating area of the laminating machine, he accidentally lifted his head and was fatally crushed by the moving machine head of the laminating machine.

The lower part of the lamination area of the involved laminating machine is not equipped with safety protection devices.

The indirect causes of the accident are:

Yinghui Company has not effectively implemented the main responsibility for production safety, has inadequate safety management, and has not appointed safety production management personnel.

No conspicuous safety warning signs are set in prominent positions regarding the risks of crushing, collision, and impact to the human body due to the absence of reciprocating movement of the moving head on the laminating machine.

During routine maintenance, the safety protection device underneath the laminating area of the laminator was removed and not reinstalled in a timely manner after the maintenance.

The production safety accident hazard investigation and management system was not established, improved, and implemented; the safety hazard of the missing safety protection device under the laminating area of the laminating machine was not promptly identified, resulting in the exposure of the moving head of the machine. No technical or management measures were taken to eliminate the accident hazard; personnel were not supervised to strictly comply with relevant safety rules and regulations and safety operating procedures, such as not approaching the machine operation area while the equipment was running.

Processing Result

On June 6, 2025, Yinghui Company signed a "Mediation Agreement" with the family of the deceased and paid the family 1.22 million yuan.

On June 8th, the deceased's body was cremated at the Dongguan Funeral Home, and their family returned to their hometown on the same day.

In addition, the investigation report also provides a series of handling recommendations:

It is recommended that the emergency management department impose penalties on Yinghui Company, its legal representative, and main responsible person, Jin Moumou, according to the law; it is suggested that the deputy secretary in charge of production safety in Daojiao Town conduct an interview with the main leaders of the Nanya Village Committee; it is recommended to order the Daojiao Emergency Management Sub-bureau and the Nanya Village Committee in Daojiao Town to make a profound inspection to the Daojiao Town People's Government; it is recommended to order the Daojiao Emergency Management Sub-bureau to return safety production special inspector Lu Moumou, who is responsible for the grid safety supervision of the involved enterprise, to the labor dispatch unit; it is recommended to order the Daojiao Emergency Management Sub-bureau to require safety production special inspector Yin Moumou, who is responsible for the grid safety supervision of the involved enterprise, to make a written inspection; it is recommended to order Nanya Village Committee's safety office safety inspectors Ye Moumou and Ding Moumou to make written inspections to their respective units.

Relevant Units and Personnel

Dongguan Yinghui Mould Co., Ltd.

Established on November 4, 2022

Legal Representative: Jin Chongbin

Unified Social Credit Code: 91441900MAC2WEML5M

Type: Limited Liability Company (Natural Person Investment or Holding)

Address: No. 1, Lizhoujiao 1st Road, Daojiao Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province

Business scope: Mold manufacturing; Mold sales; Plastic product manufacturing; Plastic product sales; Hardware product manufacturing; Hardware product retail, etc.

Its production and operation scale belongs to below-scale enterprises.

Ni Moumou (deceased)

Male, from Wenshan City, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province.

I am an employee of Yinghui Company, having joined the company on March 2, 2024, and have signed a labor contract with Yinghui Company.

Responsible for film changing and minor troubleshooting on three groups of automated mechanical equipment production lines on a daily basis. Duties include inspecting the equipment and promptly addressing any operational abnormalities.

Fully automatic laminating machine of Line 90B7 (the involved mechanical equipment)

The equipment will be put into use in May 2025, mainly producing film packaging boxes. First, the injection molding machine dissolves the plastic to form a plastic frame, and then the film coating machine applies a film to the plastic frame. The film-coated products are used for jewelry packaging.

The laminating machine involved was equipped with a safety protection device at the lower part of the laminating area when it left the factory. However, Yinghui Company removed it during maintenance and failed to reinstall it promptly after the maintenance. This position poses safety hazards such as crushing, collision, and impact to the human body.