Hand slice injuries cost bakery more than £70k
The workers were injured in two unrelated accidents at Penrith-based Bells of Lazonby last year.
Carlisle Magistrates’ Court heard how a worker lost the top of the right-hand middle finger on January 26 last year, after it caught the moving blade of a dough-dividing machine.
The second incident occurred on the March 29 when an employee’s left index finger made contact with the cutting jaws of a wrapping machine.
Failed to equip guarding
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the company failed to install guarding on the machinery to prevent incidents like this occurring.
Bells of Lazonby Ltd of Edenholme Bakery, Penrith pleaded guilty to breaching two charges of Regulation 11, of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
The firm was fined £40,000 for the first offence and £30,000 for the second offence and ordered to pay costs of £7,990.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Leona Cameron said: “This case demonstrates the importance of checking and assessing all dangerous equipment and machinery to prevent injuries to employees operating such machinery.”
Food firms fined
The prosecution follows a number of food firms fined for health and safety breaches, which led to injuries to employees’ hands.
Bristol-based The Butchers at Clifton was fined £18,000 in February, after a worker suffered deep lacerations to his hand while cutting beef bones on a band saw.
February also saw polythene film manufacturer Total Polfilm Ltd – which supplies the food and agricultural industries – fined £6,000 after an agency worker’s hand was trapped in machinery.
