The snack that purports to be light and curly has caused a worker to break his leg when a 400 kilogramme block of compacted Quavers waste fell on them.
Lincoln Magistrates' Court was told that waste pellets from the Quavers production line ran off a machine into a magnum bin. The pellets solidified into a large block, which could not be dug out of the magnum so the worker and a colleague used a forklift to turn the magnum over so the block fell out.
But as the block was then lifted into the wheeled bin, it became stuck at the top. When the two men attempted to move the bin, it tipped over causing the block of pellets to fall onto the employee and fracture his lower leg.
The employee, who has asked to remain anonymous, was off work for 15 weeks but has since returned to work with the company.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told magistrates that the work had not been properly planned, supervised or carried out in a safe manner.
Walkers Snack Foods Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations SI 1999/3242 and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations SI 1998/2307. The company was fined a total of £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.
After the hearing HSE Inspector Scott Wynne said, "The task of devising a method to dispose of the waste pellets had been given to an agency worker who did not have the experience or training required to allow him to properly plan how the task should be carried out. As a result it was carried out without supervision and, as the injuries to the employee suggest, the task was not carried out in a safe manner."
