Confectionery firm fined

Prosecutions and Claims |
05.03.2008

A confectionery company has been fined £25,000 after an employee suffered a broken arm in an unguarded conveyer system.

The injured worker's first language was not English and it was "very likely" this was a factor, said investigating HSE inspector Guy Dale.

The accident happened in October 2006 at Magna Specialist Confectioners' site in Telford.

The employee had been moved from her usual packaging job to a production job which involved filling a hopper with biscuit crumb that then dispensed automatically onto chocolate eggs as they moved along the production line.

The crumb was not being distributed evenly so the employee tried to fix the problem. As she did so, her arm became trapped between a static part of the machinery and the unguarded moving conveyor.

Magna pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, which requires employers to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery or stop them moving before any person enters a danger zone.

On 29 February at Shrewsbury Crown Court the firm was fined £25,000 plus £4928 costs.

Speaking after the case, Guy Dale said "employers should check the language skills of workers before they start work, particularly their understanding of spoken and written English.

"They should consider what information, instruction and training needs to be provided at the workplace. Employers will need to think about how best to provide this and how to ensure it has been understood."

He added that there was "a catalogue of systemic failures in the company and a lack of risk assessment on smaller engineering works, leaving employees exposed to risks to their health and safety."