Printed from the Field Fisher Waterhouse Personal Injury web site
Web address: http://personalinjury.ffw.com//news/2010/oct/firm-fined-after-worker-skins.aspx

Firm fined after worker skins hand

A chicken processing company has been fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,500 after an employee had skin torn from the back of his hand in an accident at work.

accident at work

The unnamed employee was using a de-skinning machine when his glove became caught and his hand was pulled on to the cutting blade. The skin on the back of his hand was torn completely away from the underlying tissue in the incident on July 24, 2009.

Crown Chicken Ltd was fined by Thetford Magistrates' Court after an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) discovered that the machine did not have adequate safety guards or an emergency stop button, and the gloves being used by the worker were not sufficiently protective.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

The company pleaded guilty to four breaches of health and safety law, including a separate incident where another worker's hand was crushed by a forklift truck as he tried to access a trailer.