23/07/2010 - Firm fined as worker loses finger
A frozen food firm has been fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,500 after a worker lost a finger while straightening boxes on a palletising machine.
Pinguin Foods UK pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 after the worker's hand was crushed.
The incident happened at the international frozen vegetable supplier's Boston site in February last year, Boston Magistrates' Court heard.
Although the box loading machine that the man was working on had a perspex guard attached, the employee routinely entered the enclosure while the machinery was running.
While behind the guard, his fingers were caught between a pallet and the conveyor, resulting in his middle finger being amputated from the tip to the first knuckle. He was subsequently off work for six months.
The company was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and it was found a number of employees had been given interlock parts which effectively overrode the safety systems in place and allowed access to the enclosure.
Pinguin Foods UK Ltd, based on Marsh Lane, Riverside Industrial Estate, is part of The Pinguin Group that has eight vegetable production sites in Belgium, France and the UK.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
Related links
|
