A company that grows mushrooms has been fined after an employee’s leg became trapped in a machine and was later amputated.
The mixing axle. Credit: HSE
Luka Ilic’s right leg was caught by the rotating blades of a mushroom filling machine and became stuck in the device’s moving parts on 16 October 2019.
He was part of a team of three at Howden Enterprises Ltd, trading under the name Hughes Mushrooms, that were cleaning the machine at the firm’s premises in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, East Yorkshire.
The then 29-year-old climbed onto the machine, which is used to prepare and fill compost in growing trays, to remove the last remaining parts of the compost.
The machine was then turned on, leading to Mr Ilic’s leg being caught by the rotating blades in the mixing axle and becoming trapped.
His leg was later amputated below the knee at hospital.
CCTV of the filing machine. Credit: HSE
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Howden Enterprises Ltd had failed to adequately assess the operation of the filling machine, in particular the cleaning of the machine. The firm also failed to ensure there robust isolation and safe operating procedures were in place and followed.
Howden Enterprises Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £73,333.00 and ordered to pay £7,522.60 in costs at Hull and Holderness Magistrates Court on 10 April 2024.
HSE Inspector Louise Redgrove said: “The importance of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment which reflects all actual practical activities cannot be underestimated. It is vital to ensure there are effective systems of work and physical controls which are implemented, supervised and used by all those involved. This incident could have easily been avoided with a robust isolation procedure and padlock for each worker involved.”
