NESTLE AND MONOTRONIC FINED £245,000 FOLLOWING ELECTROCUTION

HSE press release E091:03 - 3 June 2003

One of the country's largest food and drink manufacturers, Nestlé UK Ltd, was on Friday 30 May fined £220,000 following a fatal accident in 1999 when a contractor's employee was electrocuted undertaking work at Nestlé's factory in Nestles Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex. The man's employer, Monotronic Ltd, was fined £25,000.

Isleworth Crown Court ordered Nestlé to pay £30,000 in costs.

The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted both companies after the accident on 25 November 1999. Anthony Allen, an electrician for Monotronic Ltd, Lind Road, Sutton, Surrey, was electrocuted while pulling out redundant cables from trunking in the coffee plant in the factory.

Monotronic Ltd was charged with breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc., Act 1974, for failing to ensure the safety of its employee.

Nestlé UK Ltd was charged with breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc., Act 1974, for failing to ensure the safety of people not employed by them but affected by its work.

HSE Principal Inspector Samantha Peace said after the verdict: "Some 18 workers were killed by contact with electricity in 1999 - one of them was Anthony Allen. His death could have been avoided if Nestlé had ensured its contractors either followed or had in place a safe system of work, similar to the system Nestlé managed for its own employees.

"Every company, however large or small, must ensure that contractors have safe systems of work and follow them. This is particularly important for electrical work."

Notes to editors

1. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc, Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of his all employees."

2. Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc., Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby, are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."

3. At Uxbridge Magistrates' Court in February 2002, Monotronic Ltd pleaded guilty to one breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc., Act 1974. At Isleworth Crown Court in March 2003, Nestlé UK Ltd pleaded guilty to one breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc., Act 1974.

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