Unguarded machine creates health and safety incident
At a Cornish bakery, a night employee was injured. The injury occurred on an unguarded machine. The incident happened in 2010 when the worker was 27 years old. The female worker sustained broken arms due to her arms being caught in the machine. The worker was part of the cleaning team. She was told to clean the number two conveyor production line by the shift supervisor. The machine was running when she started working on it to remove dough. The scraper she was using slipped and led to her arms being rolled into a nip point.
Health and safety audits revealed that the guard was not in place. It had been missing for several months at least. The worker did not receive proper health and safety training on the machine. She also did not have cleaning training for the machine. Given the lack of training and breach of safety laws on the machinery, the court decided to fine the bakery. If the company had taken reasonable measures to fix the guarding on the machine or had proper training of the employees the fine could have been avoided. The fine was for close to £10,000 with some additional court costs. Any time there are machines at a workplace, proper risk management and training needs to be provided. Risk management includes assessing the machines for dangers and getting them fixed as soon as possible rather than waiting until the money is there. Waiting gives rise to possible incidents similar to what happened at the bakery.
