The HSE has prosecuted a family-run
bakery for failing to comply with the Work at Height Regulations after
an employee fell 1.2m off a structural steel girder.
The worker suffered a fractured rib,
bruising and a cut leg in November 2008 when she fell from the girder
used to access the side of a flour hopper she was cleaning at Tregroes
Waffle Bakery’s factory in west Wales. Had she not landed on a bulk
container directly below, she would have fallen nearly twice as far.
Tregroes, which specialises in toffee and
chocolate-coated waffles, admitted failing to take suitable and
sufficient measures to prevent people falling, in breach of Regulation
6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations. Llanelli magistrates fined it
£1750 and ordered it to pay £1374 costs.
After the case, HSE inspector Scott
McKinnon said Tregroes had exposed its employee to unnecessary risk by
not having anything in place to stop her falling. "The company took
immediate action to prevent similar incidents occurring in the future,”
he added, “and co-operated fully throughout the investigation."
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