Severed finger leads to prosecution of food manufacturer

Date:

20 September 2012

Release No:

HSE/M/135/12

A Herefordshire food manufacturer has been fined after an employee severed her finger in an inadequately guarded machine.

Ewalina Giedziun, aged 29, from Hereford, sustained the injury while working on a suet packing line at Q Cold Limited's Ledbury site on 17 October last year.

The tip of her index finger on her left hand was severed when she reached into the machine and came into contact with heated clamping jaws that crimp and seal plastic bags once filled. She was unable to work for several months as a result of the incident.

Hereford Magistrates' Court heard today (20 September) that an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Q Cold Limited had assessed the risks associated with the packing line and had installed both fixed guards and interlocked doors to prevent access to dangerous moving parts. However, one of the fixed guards was not properly secured and was effectively useless.

Q Cold Limited, of Orchard Business Park, Bromyard Road, Ledbury, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £2,000and ordered to pay £2,348 in costs.

After the hearing HSE inspector Chris Gregory said:

"The company was aware of the potential dangers and had taken precautions, but failed to ensure checks or controls were in place to monitor whether those precautions were maintained.

"The offending guard was not secure and had either been moved or moved itself, creating a gap into which people could reach. It was secondary to the interlocking doors, but was still important as it created distance between the workers and moving parts of machinery.

"The company's failure resulted in Ewalina suffering a painful injury and emotional trauma that left her unable to work for a considerable time."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that measures are taken in accordance with paragraph (2) which are effective (a) to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery or to any rotating stock-bar; or (b) to stop the movement of any dangerous part of machinery or rotating stock-bar before any part of a person enters a danger zone."

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