Tangerine fined after worker severs finger

A SWEET manufacturer based in Blackpool has been sentenced after part of a worker’s finger was cut off at a Blackpool factory.

The employee at Tangerine Confectionery was trying to remove a blockage in one of the sweet-making machines when his left hand was pulled in, severing his index finger to the top knuckle.

The company, which produces liquorice allsorts and sherbet fountains among other sweets, was prosecuted following a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident. It found the worker had been able to reach the rotating parts in the machine while the power was still on.

Blackpool Magistrates’ Court heard the 25-year-old from Blackpool was operating the machine on the morning of 8 September 2008 when it became blocked. He removed the guard to clear the blockage when the rotating wheels that flatten the sweet mixture caught his hand.

Doctors were unable to reattach the end of his finger due to the crushed nerves, and he needed five months off work to recover.

Tangerine Confectionery, which has seven factories around the country, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment rules after it failed to make sure the machine stopped operating when the guard was not in place.

The company, of Vicarage Lane in Blackpool, was fined £3,400 and ordered to pay £4,568 in costs on August 10.

HSE investigating inspector Anthony Banks said: “This incident has resulted in a worker suffering a permanent injury but it should simply never have been allowed to happen.”

“The risk of injury from these types of machines are well known in the industry and Tangerine Confectionery has since installed a new guard over the machine which cuts the power as soon as it is lifted.”