Leading prepared produce firm Bakkavor has been fined over £2 million after a worker was crushed at one of its veg and salad manufacturing subsidiaries.
Jacek Adamowicz, aged 29 and a father of one, was cleaning a storage yard at Wigan-based Hitchen Foods when plastic bales weighing 703kg fell and crushed him. The incident took place in 2015.
At a recent hearing at Manchester Crown Court, parent compay Bakkavor Foods pleaded guilty to breaches of Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work at 1974 and was fined £2 million with £32,595.10 in costs.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found there was unsafe stacking of bales of plastic. It said Bakkavor Foods had “failed to implement properly planned safe systems of work for their employees who were exposed during the stacking of the bales”. There was also no formal training in stacking bales and lack of monitoring in the bale area, HSE said.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Ian Betley said: “Bakkavor Foods Limited fell far short of the required standard expected. Not only should proper planning have been carried out in relation to the storage and stacking of waste bales, but also a system of work subsequently put in place to mitigate those risks.
“The company failed on both of these counts with devastating consequences.”
