The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a company after a worker’s fingertips were amputated while machinery was being cleaned.

In January 2009, Paulina Lleshi of Oxford was cleaning a sponge-cake making machine called a fondant enrober at Spread Newco Four Ltd – formally known as Queen of Hearts (UK) Ltd – at their site at Sandy Lane West in Oxford.

Ms Lleshi’s job at the end of every day was to clean off excess fondant when production had finished. However, when she pushed her left hand along a channel at the base of the machine, her fingers came into contact with a large revolving screw – known as an auger – which amputated the ends of two fingers on her hand.

 
On Friday (02/10/09) at Oxford Magistrates’ Court, Spread Newco Four Ltd of Shadsworth Business Park in Blackburn, Lancashire pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Regulation 3 (1) (a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The company was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,751.

The HSE investigation found there was just one generic risk assessment involving the machine, which did not cover the cleaning of it or the specific machine involved in the incident.

The HSE also found no evidence that Ms Lleshi had seen a leaflet which stated the machine should be switched off while it was being cleaned – and the company accepted that it would not be practicable to clean the machine with the power off.

 
After the investigation, the company fitted additional guarding on the machine to prevent access to the dangerous section of it, allowing operators to clean that part of the machine in safety while it still had power.

 
After the hearing, HSE inspector, Matthew Lee said:

‘The risks associated with these types of cleaning machines should be properly assessed, as this is one of the major causes of machinery accidents in the food industry. 

‘In this case, any basic assessment would have identified that access to the dangerous part of the machine was possible – and this was easily preventable by a very simple modification to the machine.’

 
©5r1 Limited 2009