Managing safely courses news: Company fined after worker's hand crushed

Category: IOSH Managing Safely
Friday 19th of February 2010

A company which supplies food to several major supermarkets has been fined after one of its workers had their hand crushed by machinery.

Managing safely course students may be interested in the case of a worker at Bakkavor Foods' Bourne Salad Factory premises in Bourne who suffered injuries when he attempted to clear a blockage from a cabbage washing machine.

Although the device was fitted with a guard to prevent anyone from accessing the screw conveyor, it had been disabled to enable the machine to work without it.

As the blockage was cleared the conveyor began to work again, crushing the man's hand, which resulted in the firm receiving a £3,000 fine plus costs from Grantham Magistrates' Court.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Jo Anderson said: "Bakkavor is a huge company which employs 20,000 worldwide and 2,500 in the UK alone. It is often assumed companies of this size adhere to health and safety policies at all times."

The HSE has reported that in the year 2008-09 the Labour Force Survey found that 3.1 million working days were lost in the wholesale and retail trade due to ill health.

Posted by Sam Lowther

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