Sussex-based Truffles Bakery has been fined £12,000 after an employee lost part of their finger in a dough divider.
Kevin Norman was working at the company’s production site in Henfield, West Sussex, on 20 December 2023, when he reached into the dough divider to remove a piece of dough that was stuck.
The 64-year-old’s finger got caught in a shear point created between the rotating drum and a transfer roller. Despite the machine having guards and interlocks, the tunnel guard over the conveyor was too short, enabling Mr Norman to reach through it to remove the dough whilst the machine was still running, resulting in him losing part of his finger.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Truffles Bakers and Confectioners Limited had failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. This could be done via the use of fixed or interlocked guarding situated at sufficient distance from the danger zone, it added.
Truffles Bakers and Confectioners Limited pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 11(1) of The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £12,000 and was ordered to pay £3,045.65 costs at a hearing at Worthing Magistrates Court on 14 April 2025.
After the hearing, HSE Inspector Stephanie Hickford-Smith said: “Employers must constantly review the guarding arrangements on machines to ensure there is no access to dangerous parts. As an employer, you cannot rely solely on the presence of a guard. You must make sure it works effectively, and persons are not able to bypass it.”
Truffles Bakery employs around 240 people across its 19 retail sites and production facility in Sussex, from which it produces and sells a range of sweet and savoury baked goods.
There have been a spate of fines in the baking industry of late including a £573k fine for David Wood Baking after three employees suffered serious injuries in separate incidents at its sites during 2022. Ginsters owner Samworth Brothers was also fined £1.28m last year after an employee was crushed to death at its site in Callington, Cornwall, and Jacksons Bakery had to pay more than £370k when an employee lost a finger in a machine at its Corby site in Northamptonshire.
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