Chocolate maker Thorntons has been fined a total of £16,548 this month, after an employee slipped while standing on a conveyor and plunged his hand into a hopper's rotating rollers. Ashley Taylor was working at a factory in Somercotes, Derbyshire, when the accident happened in November 2007.
He had been standing on the conveyor to cool a depositor - a device used to add the filling to the chocolates - when he slipped on a wet mat. As he fell, his hand was thrust into the rollers of the depositor hopper. He became trapped before his colleague was able to stop the machine, and he suffered two broken bones and extensive tissue damage. He had to be freed by the fire service and has not worked since the accident.
An investigation revealed that there was a trip bar around the hopper, but it was not positioned to protect someone standing on the conveyor. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Noelle Walker said the combination of a wet surface and inadequately guarded rollers led to Taylor's injuries. She told magistrates there had been a similar accident involving the same machine in 1999. The employee had not been badly injured, but Thorntons had failed to heed the warning and take appropriate action.
Thorntons have since accepted responsibility for the incident and have continued to assist in Taylor's rehabilitation. The company has installed guards around the hopper and a non-slip footplate.
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