Food firm fined £35k for broken armA Northern Ireland-based food manufacturer has been fined £35,000 after a maintenance engineer crushed his arm at one of its Midland factories.
Michael May, from Reepham in Lincolnshire, was working at Moy Park's Anwick site near Sleaford when he leaned into a crossover conveyor, which moves boxes from one part of a conveyor to another, and the moving mechanism shifted.
His arm was broken in several places when it was crushed between the moving arm and the crossover's frame.
Moy Park pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at Grantham Magistrates' Court, and also admitted failing to ensure measures were in place to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery under 11(1) of the Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) 1998.
It was fined a total of £35,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,115.
"This incident could have so easily been avoided if effective systems were in place to ensure the safety of engineers working on faults and machines were properly guarded," said Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Judith McNulty Green.
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