Tulip fined for workers severed fingers

The 60-year-old member of staff lost the index and middle finger of his right hand and suffered damage to his ring finger in the incident at the Danish-owned company’s plant in Ruskington, Lincolnshire during December 2009.

According to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), the man reached into the unguarded mixing bowl to remove a piece of blue plastic while adding seasoning to the mixture.

Grantham Magistrates' Court heard Tulip had identified the machine was unguarded during a risk assessment in February 2009 but had done nothing about it.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,076.

Speaking after today's (16 August) hearing, HSE inspector Dr David Lefever said: "The risk could have been removed at no cost to the company by removing the access steps. Unfortunately, a much larger price has been paid, not least by their employee.

"This case shows that risk assessments are not just about producing pieces of paper. If Tulip had taken prompt action at the time, this incident would not have happened."

Kirsty Wilkins, Tulip’s HR Director said: “Obviously we are very disappointed that one of our colleagues sustained injuries whilst working at our Ruskington site, the health and safety of all our colleagues across the Tulip business is of paramount importance to us.

“We have, since purchasing the Ruskington facility, made every effort to provide a safe environment in which our colleagues can work, we have fully cooperated with the HSE to understand exactly how this incident occurred and have taken every measure to ensure that it will not happen again including investing over £7.5m in improvements to the site.”