A mushroom-growing company has received a fine after an employee needed a below-the-knee amputation after his leg was trapped in a machine.
Luka Ilic’s had his right leg caught in the rotating blades of a mushroom filling machine, becoming stuck in the machine’s mechanism on the 16th of October 2019.
He was one of a team of three at Howden Enterprises Ltd, under the trading name Hughes Mushrooms, tasked to clean the machine at the firm’s premises in East Yorkshire.
Luka, 29, climbed onto the machine, which prepared and filled growing trays with compost, to remove remnants of compost from the machine.
The machine was turned on as Mr. Ilic’s was still on the machine, resulting in his leg being caught and trapped by the rotating blades in the mixing axle.
The damage was so extensive that his leg later required amputation below the knee in hospital.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation concluded that Howden Enterprises Ltd had failed to adequately assess the operation of the machine, particularly in how the machine was cleaned. Howden Enterprises did not ensure that there were robust isolation and safe operating procedures in place and adhered to.
Howden Enterprises Ltd, of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. it received a fine of £73,333.00 with an order to pay £7,522.60 in costs at Hull and Holderness Magistrates Court on the 10th of April 2024.
Louise Redgrove, HSE inspector, said:
“The importance of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment which reflects all actual practical activities cannot be underestimated. It is vital to ensure there are effective systems of work and physical controls which are implemented, supervised and used by all those involved.
“This incident could have easily been avoided with a robust isolation procedure and padlock for each worker involved.”
Iain Jordan, HSE enforcement lawyer, brought this prosecution and was supported by HSE paralegal officer Rebecca Whithell.
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