One employee of a pork products production firm may be considering a personal injury compensation claim against his employers after he suffered serious injuries to two of his fingers in an accident involving a mixing machine.
One sixty year old employee, whose name has not been released to the media for privacy reasons, had been working for Tulip Ltd on its production line in December of 2009 when the incident occurred, according to accident claims specialists familiar with the case. As the man was adding some seasoning to the mixing machine, he noticed that the mix had a small piece of blue plastic within it, and he reached into the mixing bowl to retrieve it only to lose two of his fingers outright and severely injure a third.
The pork product packaging worker was rushed to hospital, where he had to undergo several surgical procedures to reattach his fingers. The man missed a total of ten months of work, and when he finally returned he found that he was not able to resume his former duties because of the nerve loss in his damaged fingers.
Shortly after the accident, the Government’s Health and Safety Executive launched an investigation and discovered that the mixing machine in question had been unguarded. If an electric gate had been set in position on the mixing machine’s access step, said the HSE, the mixer would have been prevented from running as the employee added the seasoning.
Tulip Ltd was brought successfully prosecuted by the HSE, entering a plea of guilty of being in breach of Health and Safety Regulations. The firm was given a fine of £16,000 for its part in the man’s injuries, and the company was also ordered by the court to pay a total of £4,076 in legal fees as well.