Processing News
Young’s fined £787,500 for safety breach Britain’s largest seafood company has been fined more than three quarters of a million pounds after a worker was trapped by a mixing machine at one of its Grimsby sites.
YOUNG’S, a major supplier of salmon and whitefish to retail and foodservice, pleaded guilty at Grimsby Crown Court to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £787,500 and ordered to pay £33,443.68 in costs. The court heard the 59-year-old worker was creating the mix for fish cakes at the
company’s Humberstone Road factory in Grimsby. At the end of a mix run he went to clear the mix from the machine, lifting an interlocked guard that should have stopped the machine from running. He put his hand into the machine without realising it was still running and the augur caught his hand and drew his arm in up to the elbow.
The worker managed to free himself from the augur but in removing his arm, his thumb and two of his fingers were severed and he suffered serious tendon damage. Following the incident doctors were unable to reattach his fingers and he has not yet been able to return to work. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it had found that the machine continued to run when the safety guard was lifted and failed to respond when the emergency stop was pressed. The interlocking system was inadequate,
and the company had failed to ensure that the machine was effectively maintained. These matters were exacerbated by poor communication between the shop floor and maintenance and an inadequate fault reporting system. HSE inspector Carol Downes said later: “The life changing injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented and the risk should have been identified. “Being pro-active with preventative maintenance and good communication of faults can reduce
“
The life changing injuries... could have been prevented
”
the chance of harm.” A Young’s spokesperson said: “Young’s Seafood accepts the fine imposed by the court following the Health and Safety Executive’s inves-
tigation, which we cooperated with fully. Mr Spence has been a valued member of the Young’s family for 25 years and continues to work with us today. “We thank the court for its favourable comments about our positive health and safety record, our lack of previous convictions and our proactivity as a responsible employer to put effective health and safety measures in place to avoid incidents like this happening again in the future.” Young’s employs around 3,000 people in both Grimsby and Scotland.
Green endorsement for JCS GRIMSBY-based based salmon and trout supplier JCS Fish has been awarded a “Green” cer�ficate under the Investors in the Environment (iiE) environmental accredita�on scheme. This is the first �me the business has achieved Green status, having been audited to the lower Silver level for each of the past five years. Jack Coulbeck, who co-ordinates sustainability for JCS Fish said: “Over the past year we have been working really hard to drive down our environmental impact, assessing our overall carbon footprint for the first �me and se�ng some really tough goals for future improvement. “It is really great that this was recognised by the iiE assessor and helped us win this higher standard.” Some of the key environmental improvements that have helped JCS win Green status included: That the company has a clear set of goals and targets to make progressive reduc�ons in its carbon footprint, aiming for neutrality by
24
Processing News.indd 24
2030 and zero emissions by 2050. It has commi�ed to only using fish from suppliers assessed and accredited for their environmental impact and sustainability approach, and to cu�ng waste across the business Reducing the impact of employ-
ee transport by suppor�ng cycling to work and providing an electric charge point on site for EVs The iiE scheme is unique because organisa�ons must achieve a minimum 2% improvement in resource efficiency over an agreed baseline figure, to secure Green accredita�on JCS co-founder and director Louise Coulbeck added: “We have
always sought to manage the business as sustainably as possible, but this agenda has become even more urgent over recent years and is something our customers now expect of us. I think our achievements set an example for any small to medium sized enterprise who wants to make a real effort to improve their environmental footprint.”
www.fishfarmermagazine.co.uk
07/06/2021 15:11:34
