UND-Pilsa Blog

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has called upon employers for comprehensive risk assessment, with additional focus on cleaning and maintenance tasks of machines. The HSE’s advice comes after a judgement pronounced by the Aylesbury Crown Court on a case of accidental death of an employee working in a food manufacturing company .

The Court imposed a fine of 160,000 pounds and additional costs of 40,452 pounds on Delico Ltd, after it pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The accident occurred on May 19, 2007 at Delico Ltd’s meat processing plant in Snelshall West, Milton Keynes. Lynda Trebilcock was cleaning a blending machine as part of her routine work when a powered automatic door suddenly closed and hit her head. Trebilcock was severely wounded and died on the spot.

The HSE investigated the accident and pointed out that safety measures need to be incorporated in all operations, from production or manufacturing to routine maintenance. Inspector Karl Howes of the HSE has asked companies all over the UK to include maintenance and cleaning tasks while making risk evaluations. He also urged the employers to make sure workers handling equipment are trained in using safety mechanisms included in the machinery, so that such untoward incidents do not take place in future. NEBOSH courses from Workplace Law Training are designed to give managers and supervisors all they need to know to help handle health and safety in their teams; click on NEBOSH Certificate Training for more info.