Broken Bone In Accident At Work

An incident in which an employee got his hand trapped in a bagel forming machine and broke his wrist has led to a speciality bread manufacture being fined.

Country Style Foods admitted responsibility for the incident in which the worker was removing finished bagels from the machine and noticed a build-up of dough on a roller.

His hand and wrist were dragged into the machine and trapped between the roller and a moving belt after he used a scraper to remove the dough. The lack of guarding allowed the incident to happen.

Country Style Foods was fined £6,000 and ordered to meet court costs of £4,570 after it admitted breaking regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in relation to the incident at a site on Pontefract on 27 April, 2009.

The company produces goods for supermarkets, bakers and food service customers.

The investigation also revealed that the issue of insufficient guarding had already been raised by a hygiene supervisor, but no action was taken before the machine was put into use.

Following the hearing HSE inspector Angus Robbins said: "The onus is on employers like Country Style Foods to manage and control risks at all times, and set an example for others to follow."

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David Urpeth from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: “I welcome the fine imposed following this work accident.

“This accident at work is even more worrying given the fact that the lack of guarding had been noted by a supervisor but not acted upon. 

“Sadly, I regularly have to help workers pursue their compensation claim following injuries sustained in a work accident."