United Biscuits, manufacturer of McVities, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and ordered to pay over £10,000.
Inspector Rachel Brittain said the incident was “absolutely unacceptable” and warned that employers had a duty of care to ensure their staff’s safety.
“Preventing access to moving parts and fitting guards is an elementary and essential precautionary measure and inexpensive,” she added.
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The employee’s fingers were severed when she attempted to manually remove an obstruction from a flapjack mixer at a site in Halifax.
Blades inside the machine were still moving even though it was stopped and, when she had climbed up a step ladder and put her hand inside, two of her fingers were cut off.
Around 5,000 people in the food and drink manufacturing industries are hurt each year while at work, with around 16 per cent being major injuries leading to hospitalisation.
Posted by Colette Paxton
