Employers warned about safety procedures after Thorntons fine
Commercial insurance
18th March 2009
Employeers are being warned to ensure proper safety procedures are in place on their premises following the prosecution of a Derbyshire chocolate maker.
Somercotes-based Thorntons was fined £12,000 at Derbyshire magistrates court and ordered to pay costs of £4,548 after admitting to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The case was brought after 23-year-old employee Ashley Taylor slipped on a wet mat and trapped his hand in rotating rollers.
As a result of the accident, he sustained two broken bones and severe tissue damage.
Noelle Walker, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector, said a significant number of accidents occur each year involving the cleaning and maintenance of food machinery and firms must implement the right systems to protect employees from hazardous situations.
"In this case, a combination of the wet surface and inadequately guarded rollers led to this injury, which could so easily have been avoided," she commented.
According to figures from the HSE, injuries caused by trips and falls cost UK employers around £500 million a year.
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