Rice company fined £140,000 after employee is killed by machine

Date:

5 November 2009

Release No:

COISE/0111

A rice manufacturing company has been fined £140,000 for health and safety breaches after one of its employees died when his leg became entangled in a machine.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Veetee Rice Ltd of Medway City Estate in Rochester, Kent. The company was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court today.

Veetee Rice Ltd had already pleaded guilty, at a previous hearing at Medway Magistrates' Court on 10 September 2009, to contravening regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was also ordered to pay costs of £20,500.

On 11 September 2006 employee Balwinder Singh Aulkh accessed a rice silo and his leg became trapped in the underfloor screw conveyor - a piece of machinery used to take rice from the silo. He died from his injuries.

The company had failed to ensure that dangerous parts of the machinery could not be accessed by members of staff, or that dangerous moving parts were stopped before anyone entered the danger zone.

Mike Walters, HSE Principal Inspector in Kent, said:

"This incident could so easily have been prevented if Veetee Rice Limited had ensured that a suitable system was in place to prevent access to the silo unless the screw conveyor was electrically isolated.

"If the company had fitted a simple padlock on the access hatch to the rice silo - which could have cost as little as £10 or £15 - then this tragic incident would not have happened.

"HSE will not tolerate employers exposing their workers to unacceptable levels of risk in the workplace and this case highlights the fact that something as simple and cheap as a padlock could have prevented someone being killed at work.

"The level of fine and costs awarded in this case should act as a stark warning to all employers to take their responsibility for health and safety seriously.

"Others must learn from this incident to help ensure that another, similar fatal accident does not happen again in the future."

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: Every employer shall ensure that measures are taken to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery or to stop the movement of any dangerous part of machinery before any part of a person enters a danger zone

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR South East