Pet bedding company fined after migrant worker injured in shredder

Date:

22 June 2009

Release No:

HSE/EM/37/2009

Companies are being reminded of their duty to protect their workforce, especially workers from other countries, after a migrant worker employed at a pet bedding company suffered serious injuries in a shredder.

Snowflake Animal Bedding Ltd, which is based in Ashton-under-Lyne, but has a manufacturing plant in Boston, Lincolnshire, was fined £13,300 and ordered to pay full costs of £8,655.16p at Boston Magistrates' Court today, Monday 22 June, after pleading guilty to breaching section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The company was also fined £3,400 after admitting breaching Regulation 9 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 for failing to ensure employees had adequate training for driving fork lift trucks.

On 23 January 2007, an employee - a migrant worker from Poland who had been in the country for just over six months at the time of the incident - was working at the company's manufacturing plant at Marsh Lane on the Riverside Industrial Estate in Boston.

He was standing on a conveyor belt which fed hay bales into the shredder, cutting strings that were holding bales together. As the bale fell apart, the man lost his balance and fell into the shredder.

Prosecuting, HSE Inspector Judith McNulty-Green said:

"Amazingly, the worker managed to pull himself out of the shredder, but he suffered very serious injuries to his hand, wrist, feet, legs and hip. Some of his wounds were very deep and he needed several skin grafts.

"The sad thing is that these injuries could have been so easily prevented. The employee should have been standing on a platform to carry out his work, not on the conveyor belt. However, during our investigation it became evident that even if employees did stand on the platform to cut the string, there would be occasions that the hay got tangled and standing on the conveyor to resolve such problems became custom and practice.

"It was unacceptable for the company to allow this practice to become commonplace and I hope that other companies can learn from this incident and ensure their responsibility to staff safety is of paramount importance."

During HSE's investigation, it also came to light that the company was not giving staff adequate forklift truck driver training.

Mrs McNulty-Green added:

"Although not directly related to this incident, it became apparent during our investigation that many staff, including the injured man, were not given enough instruction for them to be able to drive and operate the forklifts safely. This is something that should have been done as a matter of course to ensure the safe operation of the factory."

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 all his employees."
2. Regulation 9 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: " Every employer shall ensure that all persons who use work equipment have received adequate training for purposes of health and safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken."
3. The HSE has a multi-lingual website specifically for overseas workers and their employers to help understand their roles and responsibilities under British health and safety law. http://www.hse.gov.uk/migrantworkers/index.htm
4. Forklift trucks are involved, on average, in 24 per cent of all workplace transport accidents. These accidents are often due to poor supervision and a lack of training. The Approved Code of Practice for forklift truck driver training can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/personnel/lifttrucks.htm

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR East Midlands.