A bakery in Burnley has been fined after one of its workers had the tips of two fingers cut off by a pastry-making machine.
Tayyabath Bakery Ltd was fined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) last week (20th February 2014) following an investigation by the authority. They discovered that part of a metal guard had been intentionally removed, which meant that employees could add fillings to the machine whilst it was still in operation.
Reedley Magistrates’ Court in Burnley heard how the 35-year-old man from Blackburn was feeding a mixture into the top of the machine in September 2012 when his hand was struck by the pistons. He needed to take almost a year off work due to the pain.
HSE investigators found that the machine had been fitted with a guard when it was initially bought by the company approximately five years before the incident happened. However, some of the guard had later been cut away, which meant there was then a significant gap in the machine and fillings could be added to the machine without the lid being lifted and the power cut.
The bakery was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay over £5,000 in prosecution costs after it pleaded guilty to breaching the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 through its failure to prevent access to dangerous machine parts.
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