A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation will take place after an employee at Grimsby-based Coldwater Seafoods trapped his arm in processing equipment last Friday.
The investigation will look at what the cause of the accident was: whether it was human error; a training issue; or a machinery malfunction.
“We’ll be working on witness evidence and forensic evidence to work out how the incident came to be,” said an HSE spokesman. The HSE has the power to serve notice on an employer to prohibit them from using specific pieces of equipment. And if a company were to be found guilty of seriously harming an employee, then the ultimate sanction would be criminal prosecution, he added.
Fire crews had to wait for paramedics to apply painkillers to the man, who was in his early twenties, before trying to free his right arm and hand. They had become caught in a pre-dusting machine in the company’s fish zone.
It took over an hour and a half to free the man using the company engineers’ grinding machine and the firefighters hydraulic lifesaving equipment. He was then rushed to Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, before being transferred to Hull Royal Infirmary for surgery.
Coldwater Seafoods was unavailable for comment as Food Manufacture went to press.