A Nestlé technician sustained multiple fractures and tissue damage after getting his arm caught in a Rolo machine at the company's Fawdon factory.
The worker, who was 25-years-old at the time of the incident in November 2020, was underneath the "Rolo Racetrack" machine assessing an issue when his sleeve got caught in a roller and trapped his arm. He was eventually freed after shouting for help and was taken to hospital, but sustained serious injuries that meant he was prescribed morphine for three months after the incident.
On Wednesday at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court, Nestlé UK Ltd pleaded guilty to being an employer that failed to discharge general health, safety and welfare duty to an employee; and contravening a health and safety regulation. The court heard the company failed to provide a safe system of work in relation to the maintenance of the Rolo Racetrack machine and failed to provide a guard which would have prevented access to dangerous parts of the Rolo Racetrack machine.
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The court was told the incident happened on November 30, 2020, and involved a maintenance technician who worked in the Rolo and Matchmakers product areas at the Newcastle factory. The night before the incident, the technician had started night shift and was performing his normal duties alongside another technician when a problem was identified on a belt of the Rolo Racetrack machine. The technicians found the belt was "tracking to one side" but adjustments were made and the machine was restored.
But the next night, at around 2am, the technician who came to be injured went to inspect the machine for a blockage after an alarm began to sound. Simon Clegg, prosecuting on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said: "When he went underneath the machine, he reached to steady himself and the sleeve of what he was wearing was caught in the roller above his head. This dragged his left arm into the roller and was trapped between the roller and the belt. He was unable to free his arm and he shouted for help."
A machine operator was notified and the emergency stop was hit before the roller had to be unscrewed and lowered in order to free the worker's arm. The court was told that the roller was "believed to be idle" and that at the time of the accident, the roller was "not guarded". Following the incident, guards were fitted to the machine.
Mr Clegg said: "The employee was seriously injured and taken to the office for first aid before being taken to hospital. He sustained multiple fractures to his left arm and soft tissue damage." Mr Clegg said that he also suffered infections and was on morphine for three months afterwards. The employee has since returned to work at the site following a phased return.
An investigation by the HSE found that the roller that caused the injury had never been guarded, but should have been due to it having a "nip point". Mr Clegg said that Nestlé "failed to conduct a proper risk assessment" while the machine was running. The court was also told of a similar incident which had also occurred at a Nestlé factory in Halifax in 2016 when an employee was "drawn into" an idle roller and suffered significant injury to their arm. Nestlé, which has a UK turnover of £1.7bn, was subsequently fined £640,000 and ordered to pay £26,000 costs at Bradford Crown Court.
Tim Hill, appearing on behalf of Nestlé, said the company had entered an early guilty plea and employs 550 people at the Fawdon factory, which is "an instrumental part of the Nestlé business", and that the technician who was injured is "very popular and hard working". He said following the incident in November 2020, Nestlé had accepted the machine should have been guarded and that over £700,000 had since been spent at the Fawdon factory to make the site and machines more safe. He said specific assessments on the roller were not done and Nestlé "accept that".
Speaking of the Halifax incident, Mr Hill said a "huge number" of improvements had since been made across the business and said the 2016 incident had different circumstances, despite the outcome being similar. He added there had been no other incidents at the Fawdon factory and said Nestlé has "a very strong safety culture and considers themselves leaders".
Last month, The Chronicle reported that a new taskforce has been set up to help the hundreds of workers who are set to lose their jobs when the Nestlé factory shuts down. The site is due to close down in 2023, with around 475 jobs going as production is moved to plants in the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, and West Yorkshire. City leaders, trade unions, and the government have now sat down with Nestlé chiefs in the hope of finding ways to protect the livelihood of factory staff and find a new occupier to take over the Rowan Drive site.
District Judge Zoe Passfield told the court she would send out a written judgement within the next seven days.
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