Firm fined £112,000 over head crush
12/05/2010
A confectionery company has been ordered to pay more than £112,000 after an employee trapped his head in a piece of machinery, causing irreversible damage.
The employee was working at the Magna Specialist Confectioners site on Stafford Park Nine, Telford, when the accident happened in February 2007.
While trying to wipe a leak inside the safety doors of a machine on the production line, the powered part closed on his head, leaving a gap of only 5cm.
Although the one-tonne impact forced him out of the machine, rather than fatally crushing his head, the employee suffered serious head injuries and spent two weeks in a coma. He has been left with a significant level of blindness and deafness, loss of taste and smell, and personality changes.
At Shrewsbury Crown Court in December 2009, Magna Specialist Confectioners pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. It has now been fined £75,000 and ordered to pay costs of £37,500 by the same court.
A previous prosecution of the company in February 2008, under the same regulation, had already led to the company being fined £25,000.
Copyright © Press Association 2010