Catering and butchers firm fined by court after teenager loses three fingers in workplace accident
A catering and retail butchers has been fined after a teenage worker severed three fingers and partially a fourth while operating machinery that hadn’t been suitably guarded.
LDA Meats Limited were fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs by Kidderminster Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to breaching work equipment regulations following the incident on July 18, 2020.
The court heard how the 18-year-old man had operating a grinding machine at LDA Meats Limited in Lyndon Business Park in Ledbury in Herefordshire, while mincing some lamb, slipped on the wet floor.
While falling, he put his hand out and into the machine, which caused him to sever his fingers when his hand came into contact with the rotating worm thread in the machine.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the machine had not been suitably and sufficiently assessed to identify the hazardous parts, the risks associated with the machine or the required control measures to prevent access to dangerous parts.
The investigation also found the machine was not subject to routine guard checks.
This meant an issue with the safety cut out device within the lid of the machine had not been detected or remedied.
"It was possible for the machine to be operated with the lid open resulting in access to dangerous rotating parts.
At Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court on September 26, LDA Meats Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regs 1998 and was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,339.80.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Seren Linton said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided – instead a teenage worker was permanently disfigured at the very start of his working life.
“Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risks from dangerous parts of machinery.”