National fruit supplier sentenced after neglecting worker safety

A national fruit and vegetable wholesaler has been sentenced for safety failings after a worker lost the tip of her finger at a processing plant.

The 46 year-old worker was using a vegetable slicing machine when it became blocked. She pressed a stop button and opened a side panel to gain access to a conveyor that took vegetables to the cutting head. As she reached in to clear the blockage, the still-rotating cutting blade caught her right index finger and sliced off the tip to the base of her nail.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Jane Wolfenden said: "The company's failure to put an effective system in place to ensure machines had suitable protection devices and to give the workforce sufficient training put their workers at unnecessary risk. It was almost inevitable that injury would result. I hope that this prosecution results in the firm taking their responsibilities far more seriously in the future."

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Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2012/rnn-ldn-17912.htm