A UK food manufacturer has been fined £14,000 after a 65kg metal pillar fell on a maintenance engineer and crushed his skull.
The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive for failing to ensure the safety of its employees.
The worker was working at Premier Foods Group Ltd's site at Manor Bakeries in Moreton when a four-metre section of pillar fell on his head. He suffered severe traumatic brain and spinal injuries, and was in hospital for more than six months.
He had been helping to remove cages and pillars from a storage area. An angle grinder was used to cut a pillar, but when levered free at the base it became detached from the ceiling and struck the worker.
The HSE investigation found the company had not properly planned the task, and neither had it trained workers on how to safely carry out the work.
HSE inspector, Phil Redman said, "A man's life has been turned upside down because basic health and safety procedures were not followed. He has been permanently disabled from his injuries and will never be able to return to work. Premier Foods could have brought in specialists to carry out the work but instead the workers were just told to get on with the job.”
He commented that there was really no excuse for a company the size of Premier Foods (it has an annual turnover of £2.6 billion and owns several brands including Mr Kipling, Hovis and Bisto) to make health and safety errors of this kind.
