In a judgement delivered on September 25, the Aylesbury Crown Court sentenced Delico Ltd on charges of violating section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The case relates to the accidental death of a cleaner of the company at its meat processing plant. The court ordered the company to pay costs of 40,452 pounds and a fine of 160,000 pounds.
Following the case, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has asked companies to include cleaning and maintenance tasks in their risk assessment and to ensure that all risk assessments are done carefully and methodically.
The incident occurred on May 19, 2007, when Lynda Trebilcock was cleaning a blending machine at Delico’s meat processing plant in Snelshall West, Milton Keynes. A powered door on the machine closed unexpectedly causing severe head injuries and she died on the spot.
The HSE Inspector Karl Howes stressed that employers should implement proper safety measures for operating machines in order to ensure safety of employees working on them. He said safety measures like guards on machines should not be ignored, and added that risk assessment should be comprehensive and should include tasks involving cleaning and maintenance, in order to ensure that accidents like these do not occur in future.
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