Employee hand crushed in machinery
February 23, 2010
A Bakkavor Foods Ltd employee had his hand crushed by machinery at a factory in Bourne.
On 24th August 2008, an employee was assisting his colleagues in clearing a blockage in a cabbage washing line. The employee reached into the screw conveyor to try and remove several cabbages which were blocking the machine.
The guard to prevent anyone reaching the screw conveyor had been disabled to allow the machine to run without it. The machine had not been isolated properly and once the blockage was removed the machine started up again, crushing the employee's hand.
After pleading guilty to breaching regulation 11(3) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, Grantham Magistrates' Court ordered Bakkavor Foods Ltd to pay a fine of £3000 and to pay full costs of £2000
HSE Inspector Jo Anderson said: "Bakkavor is a huge company which employs 20,000 worldwide and 2500 in the UK alone. It is often assumed companies of this size adhere to health and safety policies at all times.
"In this instance, Bakkavor failed to efficiently maintain the protective guards in place to prevent employees accessing dangerous parts of the factorys machinery.
Inspector Anderson concluded: "The employee suffered the injury whilst working a night shift and this unfortunate incident sends out a clear message on the importance of companies maintaining the same standard of care to employees on a night shift as on a day shift."
Find out more about Risk Assessment
On 24th August 2008, an employee was assisting his colleagues in clearing a blockage in a cabbage washing line. The employee reached into the screw conveyor to try and remove several cabbages which were blocking the machine.
The guard to prevent anyone reaching the screw conveyor had been disabled to allow the machine to run without it. The machine had not been isolated properly and once the blockage was removed the machine started up again, crushing the employee's hand.
After pleading guilty to breaching regulation 11(3) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, Grantham Magistrates' Court ordered Bakkavor Foods Ltd to pay a fine of £3000 and to pay full costs of £2000
HSE Inspector Jo Anderson said: "Bakkavor is a huge company which employs 20,000 worldwide and 2500 in the UK alone. It is often assumed companies of this size adhere to health and safety policies at all times.
"In this instance, Bakkavor failed to efficiently maintain the protective guards in place to prevent employees accessing dangerous parts of the factorys machinery.
Inspector Anderson concluded: "The employee suffered the injury whilst working a night shift and this unfortunate incident sends out a clear message on the importance of companies maintaining the same standard of care to employees on a night shift as on a day shift."
Find out more about Risk Assessment
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