Factory fined in accident that left worker permanently injured

Essex residents may have heard about the recent charges brought against a Merseyside food company in connection with an accident that left an employee severely injured. According to the report, English Provender Company entered a plea of guilty to two breaches after one of its employees received permanent injuries to his hand while operating a sugar dispensing machine.

The accident occurred at the factory as an employee used his left hand to reach into the chute of a sugar dispensing machine to break up clogging clumps of sugar. His arm then suddenly became engulfed in the flowing sugar, and when the sugar reached 25kg on the scales, the valve slammed shut on the employee’s hand. One of his fingers was lacerated and his hand was fractured in the accident, according to the Health and Safety Executive.

The factory has been charged a total of £30,000 for breaking Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Besides the fines, the food company will pay £1178 in costs.

If the company would have alerted its employees of the dangers of its sugar dispensing machine and simply attached an inexpensive guard on the machine’s sluice valve, the accident might not have happened, a HSE inspector said. The factory produces salad dressings, condiments, curds and chutneys.

An employee who is injured on the job may be eligible to file a workplace accident claim. A solicitor may be able to help injured employees recover their losses such as medical expenses and other out-of-pocket costs.

Source: Works Management , Chutney firm sentenced over worker’s hand injury, Ian Vallely, July 13, 2015