The maintenance engineer, who has asked not to be named, has been told he may never fully recover from the injuries he sustained in the incident at Dovecote Park’s abattoir at Skellingthorpe, Lincoln, on July 21 last year.
The engineer was replacing light fittings in a large chiller, and was working from a stepladder set on top of a wooden board spanning metal rafters, about three metres above the ground.
He and a colleague accessed the rafters and board using a cherry picker, but the board gave way. The engineer fell to the ground below, while his colleague managed to grab onto one of the rafters and make his way back into the cherry picker.
Fractured vertebra
The engineer suffered a fractured vertebra and a fractured heel bone. He was off work for a number of months and although he returned to work at Dovecote Park, he was unable to carry out the job he was doing because of his injuries and resigned from his post.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told Lincoln Crown Court on Monday (July 30) that the work had not been properly planned, supervised or carried out in a safe manner.
Although the company was using a cherry picker, it wasn’t suitable for the task because it wasn’t tall enough to reach the light fittings.
Dovecote Park pleaded guilty to breaching Work at Height Regulations, and was fined £25,000 and ordered to pay costs of £12,361.
After the hearing HSE inspector Scott Wynne said: “Work at height is a high risk activity that must be properly planned. Changing light bulbs was a foreseeable task, yet the company had never considered how they would, or should, carry it out.
Risk assessment
“The activity should have been subject to a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, which would have identified the precautions needed to carry out the task safely, including selecting appropriate access equipment.
“The company simply instructed this individual to carry out the task and left him to his own devices. The resulting injuries were life changing.”
In a statement, Dovecote Park told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “The company sincerely regrets the injuries suffered as a result of the accident.
“The company has fully cooperated with the Health and Safety Executive’s investigation and has undertaken a thorough review of all health and safety procedures throughout the business.
The company continues to ensure that the health and safety of its employees, contractors and visitors is the utmost priority.”