Slip in a chocolate factory leads to prosecution
A worker slipped whilst stood on a conveyor resulting in his hand being seriously injured in a hopper - 13th March 2009
Thorntons Plc has been prosecuted after an employee
suffered hand injuries at work when he was involved
in a slipping accident.
In November 2007 the worker was cooling a depositor
which puts the filling into chocolates. This
required him to stand on a conveyor belt where he
slipped on a wet mat causing him to receive his
workplace injuries.
His hand went inside the depositor hopper and became
trapped in rollers, and although another employee
stopped the machine he suffered two broken bones and
severe tissue damage to his hand and needed the fire
service to help free him.
The machine did have the correct trip bar on the
machine, but it was not positioned correctly to
protect anyone who stood on the machine.
As a result of his
workplace accident the employee
has not been able to return to work since.
Thorntons Plc pleaded guilty at Derby Magistrates
Court on Thursday to breaching section 2 (1) of the
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which states
that: "it is the duty of every employer to ensure,
so far as is reasonably practicable, the health,
safety and welfare at work of all his employees".
They were fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £4,548
costs.
A Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) Inspector said: "In this
case, a combination of the wet surface and
inadequately guarded rollers led to this injury,
which could so easily have been avoided. This is
just one of a significant number of accidents
involving the cleaning and maintenance of food
machinery and companies must ensure that they have
the right systems in place to protect their staff
from hazardous situations."
In 2007/08 61 people died and a further 14,000
suffered injury in slips and falls in the UK.
