Cargill fined after worker loses fingers

MULTI-NATIONAL food ingredients producer Cargill has been fined £35,000 after one of its employees lost three fingers in machinery at a factory in Trafford Park.

The 46-year-old from Boothstown in Salford, who has asked not to be named, was trying to clear a blockage in a wheat milling machine when the glove on his left hand was dragged in by a roller in October 2010. He also lost part of his index finger and has required a significant amount of surgery.

Minneapolis-based Cargill, which has its UK headquarters in Surrey, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found a lockable plastic guard to prevent access to the rollers was rarely, if ever, used.

Trafford Magistrates’ Court in Sale was told on October 26 that the company’s procedure for sampling flour actually required operators to put their hands under the rollers while they were still rotating.

HSE found that another employee had also suffered injuries in May 2009 when his right hand was drawn into the rollers on the machine at the same Trafford Park Road factory, which produces wheat products for fish food and bakeries.

He managed to pull his hand out but lost three nails and small fragments of bone from his fingers. The court heard that despite the worker’s injury, Cargill continued to operate the machine without using the lockable plastic guard on the rollers so employees could still see inside.

This remained the case until the October 2010 incident, which led to the company fitting a large transparent sheet over the rollers with a small gap near the top where a scraper can be used to remove blockages.

Cargill, which employs 140,000 people in 65 countries around the world, pleaded guilty to breaching the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The firm was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £12,484.