Salad specialist Vitacress has been fined after an employee lost the tips of two fingers in an accident involving a bagging machine.
The incident, which took place in Hampshire at the company’s headquaters last April was heard at Basingstoke Magistrate’s Court last month, after an investigation by the Heath and Safety Executive (HSE) which found that access to the cutting jaws and heat sealing part of the machine was too easily accessible and that the machine had a hole cut in the interlocking guards to allow larger bags of salad out of the machine on a conveyor belt.
Vitacress Salads pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) and was fined £60,000 and paid costs of £1,088.
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