West Berkshire company fined after crisps break man's leg

Walkers Snack Foods Limited based at Arlington Business Park in Theale has been fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000 after one of its employees broke his leg.
The employee, who has asked not to be named, was working as a forklift truck driver at the company's site in Newark Road, Lincoln, when the incident happened on December 17, 2010.
Lincoln Magistrates' Court heard on Monday that the member of staff was trying to put a compacted block of waste from Walkers’ popular crisp, Quavers, into a wheeled bin.
However the block became stuck so the employee and his colleague attempted to move the bin, which tipped over causing the block of waste to fall on the member of staff.
The block of waste (pictured), which weighed 400 kilogrammes, fractured the man’s lower left leg, the court heard.
The employee was off work for 15 weeks due to his injuries, but has since returned to work with Walkers.
The Health and Safety Executive, prosecuting, told magistrates that the work had not been properly planned, supervised or carried out in a safe manner.
Walkers pleaded guilty to breaching the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations.
Following the hearing Health and Safety Executive Inspector, Scott Wynne told the Newbury Weekly News: "The task of devising a method to dispose of the waste pellets had been given to an agency worker who did not have the experience or training required to allow him to properly plan how the task should be carried out. As a result it was carried out without supervision and, as the injuries to the employee suggest, the task was not carried out in a safe manner.
"Walkers Snack Foods Limited also failed to properly assess the risks associated with the task, which should have formed an important part of the planning process. As such the risks were not fully appreciated by those workers involved in the task, and a man suffered serious injury."