Hemel Food Centre in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, has been fined £30,000 after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety laws.
A meat-cutting bandsaw that did was found not have an interlocking guard to protect staff from accessing moving parts of equipment, which included rotating pulleys and the bandsaw blade. In November 2018, Environmental Health Officers from Dacorum Borough Council placed tape around the bandsaw to prevent use and served a prohibition notice.
The business was found to have deliberately removed the tape, considered to be a “flagrant disregard” of the prohibition notice, Luton Magistrates’ Court. Migagold Ltd trading as Hemel Food Centre, based in the Marlowes, pleaded guilty to breaching its duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
It was fined a total of £30,000 for the two offences – providing unsafe equipment and breaching a prohibition notice. The court took into account an early guilty plea and no previous convictions of the business.
Cllr Julie Banks, Portfolio Holder for Community and Regulatory Services, said: “Health and safety is essential in the workplace and we will take action where it is not being followed. This case sends out an important message, highlighting the need for businesses to comply with health and safety laws and to take all appropriate measures in their business.”
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