McCain Foods has been fined £700,000 after one of its employees lost two of his fingers following an incident at the firm’s premises in Lincolnshire.
Tom Matthews from Grantham had been working a night shift at the food company’s site in Easton on September 2, 2019, when he suffered serious injuries to his left hand.
While cleaning the company’s batter system machinery, the 33-year-old attempted to remove string dangling from a chute when his left hand was drawn in and contacted the machine’s rotary valve.
Matthews’ index and middle finger were later amputated as a result of the incident.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that McCain Foods had failed to provide appropriate guarding to prevent access to the dangerous parts of machinery, namely the rotary valve.
It had not conducted an adequate risk assessment of the batter machine and had not provided employees with adequate health and safety training or supervision, the HSE said.
McCain Foods (G.B.) Limited, of Havers Hill, Eastfield, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and Section 11(1) of Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER).
The company was fined £700,000 and ordered to pay £6,508.51 in costs at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (November 22).
‘Easily avoided’
HSE inspector Muir Finlay said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided had the company taken simple steps to guard dangerous parts of machinery and provide employees with suitable training and supervision.
“Companies and individuals should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”
Tom Matthews said the last four years have been hard and an “ongoing struggle both physically and mentally” since his injury.
“I still have circulation problems in my left hand following the incident that should never have happened.
“While I’m currently working, my new role is with the health and safety team at a different company as I want to use my story as an example to others and make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”
A spokesperson for McCain said: “At McCain, we take the health and safety of our colleagues extremely seriously and have co-operated fully throughout all stages of this case.
“Since the incident in 2019, we have further enhanced our machinery safety measures, and across our six UK sites we have had zero employee safety incidents over the past 12 months.
“We sincerely regret this incident and extend our apologies to Tom Matthews and his family.”
