An East Midlands food processing business has been fined £20,000 after a worker was seriously injured when his arm got caught in machinery.
The 58-year-old worker, called Piotr Zielinski, from Nottinghamshire, was working at food processing company Belwood Foods Limited, on the Lowmoor Business Park, in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, when the accident happened.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said his right arm was drawn into a machine while he was cleaning poultry processing machinery and his wrist was crushed.
It happened in November 2019, while he was removing trapped bits of debris when part of the machine, which was still in operation, caught his arm, drawing it into the machine up to the elbow.
He needed surgery for injuries that included the crushed wrist and skin and muscle being torn off.
The HSE said its investigation found that there were no controls to stop an access panel door being able to be opened freely while part of the machine was in motion – and the was no safe isolation procedure for when the weekly clean took place.
The HSE said Belwood Foods Limited, of The Henley Building, Newtown Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, pleaded guilty to breaching part of the Health and Safety at Work. It was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £7,839.21 in costs at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.
HSE inspector Lee Greatorex said: “This injury was easily preventable. Employers have a responsibility to properly assess the risks from all aspects of their operations, including cleaning and maintenance, and implement effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.
“HSE will not hesitate to take action against companies which do not do all that they should to keep people safe.”
This prosecution was supported by HSE enforcement lawyer Samantha Wells.
