A mushroom farming business has been fined for safety failings after a worker suffered crush injuries when his arm was caught in unguarded machinery at a site in Cambridgeshire.
Cambridge Magistrates’ Court was told today (24 July) that the worker from, who was 31 at the time, was rolling a net and polythene sheet – which lined the growing shelves – onto a specially-designed emptying machine, when the sheet dropped away. He attempted to tuck it back into the machine without stopping it but his left gloved hand became caught into the winding mechanism.
The machine continued to wind the net and sheet onto its roller, pulling the worker’s arm with it up to his shoulder. On hearing him shout, another employee ran to the machine and stopped it. He then used the reverse button to free the worker’s arm, which by then was crushed in several places.
The worker suffered a fracture to his left forearm and another to his upper arm, as well as bruising on the left hand side of his chest and back. He had to stay off work for over a year.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the mushroom farm had failed to identify that the machine’s roller was unguarded when they purchased it, and had therefore not provided guarding for the dangerous part of the machine.
After the incident, the company fully enclosed the rotating part of the machine with fixed guarding fitted with a key exchange system.
The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,700 after pleading guilty to a breach of Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
For more information about the use of workplace machinery visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/index.htm