McCain fined £700,000 after employee loses two fingers

Frozen potato giant firm McCain has been fined £700,000 after an employee lost two of his fingers following an incident at the firm's premises in Lincolnshire.

Tom Matthews, from Grantham, had been working a night shift at McCain Foods' site in Easton on 2 September 2019 when he suffered injuries to his left hand.

While cleaning the company's batter system machinery, the 33-year-old had attempted to remove string dangling from a chute when his left hand was drawn in and contacted the machine's rotary valve.

The index and middle finger were later amputated (pictured below) as a result of the incident.

Matthews said: "The last four years have been hard and an ongoing struggle both physically and mentally.

"I still have circulation problems in my left hand following the incident that should never have happened."

Matthews, now working for a diffrent employers, champions health and safety in his current role. He said he would like his story to be "an example to others and make sure something like this doesn't happen again".

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that McCain Foods had failed to provide appropriate guarding to prevent access to the dangerous parts of machinery, namely the rotary valve.

The investigation also found the frozen food company, which has its UK head office in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, had not conducted an adequate risk assessment of the batter machine and had not provided employees with adequate health and safety training or supervision.

McCain admitted breaching a health and safety regulation while at Lincoln Magistrates' Court last Wednesday (22 November).

A spokesperson at McCain said the company takes "the health and safety of our colleagues extremely seriously and have co-operated fully throughout all stages of this case".

They added: "Since the incident in 2019, we have further enhanced our machinery safety measures, and across our six UK sites we have had zero employee safety incidents over the past 12 months.

"We sincerely regret this incident and extend our apologies to Tom Matthews and his family.

HSE inspector Muir Finlay said: "This incident could so easily have been avoided had the company taken simple steps to guard dangerous parts of machinery and provide employees with suitable training and supervision.

"Companies and individuals should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards."

This prosecution was led by HSE enforcement lawyer Jonathan Bambro and supported by Rubina Abdul-Karim.