Ashbury Chocolates Ltd has been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,485 at Kettering Magistrates' court after pleading guilty to breaching the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations SI 1998/2306. The breach related to an accident in which an employee's finger was partially severed in an inadequately guarded machine.
Joao Countinho was cleaning a machine which pipes liquid chocolate into moulds in February 2012. Having removed the rotors, Mr. Countinho reached up to check that the stirrer cavity was clean but the stirrers were still rotating. His left index finger then became trapped where it was partially severed. It was later amputated in hospital.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the machine was only partially guarded. Although there was an interlocking guard at the top of the stirrer cavity, there was no protective device in place at the bottom, allowing Mr Countinho to reach into the machine even though it was running.
HSE inspector Michelle Morrison said, "This was a serious incident that could have easily been prevented. Ashbury Chocolates Limited had a duty to ensure its employees were protected from the dangerous moving parts of its machines. It failed in that duty. The company has since installed a new guard to prevent a recurrence but it is a pity a man had to suffer a painful injury for that to happen."
Although Mr. Countinho was off work for around three months, he has since returned to the company doing the same job.
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