A teenage apprentice was killed in a horrific workplace incident just a week after David Cameron had claimed safety protection of young workers was 'very, very bad news'. On 10 January, Cameron Minshull was trapped in an industrial metal lathe at Zaffar Engineering UK in Bury, and suffered serious head injuries. Paramedics rushed to the factory and the 16-year-old was airlifted to hospital where doctors desperately tried to save his life, but was pronounced dead a short time later. Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have launched an investigation into the tragedy. Grieving mother Joanne Hill said: 'We have lost a very precious part of our lives and there are no words to describe how we are feeling.' A week earlier, in a 3 January speech at the Media Factory 'enterprise hub' at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, prime minister David Cameron had said health and safety regulations were one of the reasons behind a lower number of companies offering work experience placements, and told the audience this was 'very, very bad news'. A spokesperson for bereaved relatives group Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) commented: 'We suggest that before the prime minister mistakenly labels health and safety rules too burdensome, he looks at the facts: Over the last decade, at least five under 19s have been killed each year and up to 5,000 seriously injured at work. This is not due to too much, but too little health and safety.' She added: 'We must stop the government rolling back the laws and enforcement that prevents our children being killed at work. No-one should die simply for going to work to earn a living, and especially not a 16-year-old with his whole life ahead of him.'
