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Woman dragged into potato machine

A UK food processing company has been found responsible for injuries suffered by a worker when she was dragged into a potato blanching machine.

The Bakkavor Foods plant, located in the English town of Wigan, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) this week, according to Injuries Direct.

The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay court costs of £2,026, admitting it had breached the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, at Trafford Magistrates’ Court.

The 22-year-old woman, who has not been named, suffered serious injuries when she was dragged into the machine by her arm and caught between a roller and a conveyor belt.

She suffered a dislocated elbow and broken arm from the accident, and was unable to work for eight months.

The machine was unguarded and deemed unsafe by the HSE, who found employees regularly used the machine while it was still rotating.

A HSE spokesperson said during court proceedings that someone sustaining an injury from the machine was inevitable.

The company has since installed safety precautions around the machine.

In reponse to the article, the company provided Food Magazine with the following statement.

“Bakkavör Foods Limited was a defendant in a court case for a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

We can confirm that an ex-member of staff at our Hitchen Foods site was involved in an accident on 28 June 2010 that was subsequently investigated by the Health & Safety Executive. This employee suffered broken bones in her left arm and a dislocated elbow.

As a major food producer, Bakkavör Foods takes health and safety extremely seriously. We strive at all times to ensure that every employee at Bakkavör works in a safe environment and we offer our sincere apologies to this lady for the injury which she sustained to her arm.

 

After the incident a full and thorough investigation of our stringent health and safety processes was carried out and necessary corrective actions and improvements were immediately instigated to prevent anything similar from happening again.

Bakkavör Foods has cooperated fully with the Health and Safety Executive investigation and pleaded guilty to charges made against it at the first available opportunity.

The company has a very robust health and safety record with accident rates well below the industry average. Bakkavör Foods will continue to drive up standards and improve its performance in this area.”
 

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