11/10/2010 - Firm fined after worker skins hand
A chicken processing company could be saddled with higher liability insurance rates in the future after a worker injured his hand in an accident at work.
Crown Chicken Ltd was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £5,500 costs by Thetford Magistrates' Court after one of its employees had skin from his hand torn off by a de-skinning machine on July 24, 2009.
The court heard how the unnamed worker's glove was pulled onto the cutting blade, and the skin from the back of his hand, from his knuckles to his wrist, was torn completely away from the underlying tissue.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) discovered the machine did not have adequate guards, there was no emergency stop button, and the gloves being used by the injured worker were not suitably protective.
The firm, which processes 365,000 chickens a week at its site in Norfolk, pleaded guilty to four breaches of health and safety law, including a separate incident where a second worker's hand was crushed by a forklift truck while trying to access a trailer.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
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