Industry news
Beef supplier fined as worker falls
Posted Wed, 08 Aug 2012
A beef supplier has been prosecuted after a maintenance engineer fell and fractured his spine and heel bone at an abattoir in Lincoln.
The man, who wants to remain anonymous, was changing the light fittings inside a large chiller when the accident happened on 21 July 2011. He has been told by doctors that he might never fully recover.
The injuries happened when he fell from the top of a stepladder, which was on top of a wooden board spanning metal rafters around three metres off the ground, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the work was not planned properly.
The firm had a cherry picker but it could not be used because it wasn't tall enough to reach the light fittings. The HSE investigation also ruled that the work was not properly supervised or carried out in a safe manner.
Consequently, Dovecote Park Ltd from Pontefract in West Yorkshire confessed to a breach of Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at Lincoln Crown Court and was handed a fine of £25,000 and instructed to pay £12,361 in costs.
Copyright Press Association 2012