Pinguin Food Ltd, an international frozen vegetable supplier has been fined after a worker’s finger was amputated when his hand was crushed. The worker was straightening some boxes on an automatic palletising machine when the incident occurred. Even though the machine he was working on had an aperspex guard attached, the worker still entered the enclosure when the machine was running. His fingers got caught between the pallet and conveyor.

 The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducted an investigation and found that a number of employees had been given interlock parts which effectively overrode the safety systems in place and allowed access to the enclosure.

 The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £3,500 at Boston Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Scott Wynne, an HSE Inspector, said: “Pinguin is a large international company and it is often assumed companies of this size adhere to health and safety policies at all times. The employee regularly gained access to the machinery, defeating the safety device using an interlock mechanism given to him by another member of staff. The automatic palletising machine can carry up to a ton of boxes so the employee could easily have suffered more severe injuries. Pinguin should have had robust supervision and monitoring that should have identified staff were overriding interlocks and stopped it happening.”