Crantock Bakery has been fined £14,000 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a cleaner got caught-up in the unguarded machinery of a moving conveyor belt at its factory.

The bakery was also ordered to pay £15,000 in costs in the case brought by the HSE, last week.

Wioletta Drozdz had both forearm bones broken in her right arm and had to be freed by co-workers in the incident, which happened on 10 December 2010.

The cleaner had been instructed to clean the conveyor production line, but the line was running when she began working on it.

The HSE investigation revealed that the fixed guard that should have been in place on the equipment had been missing for a considerable period of time.

It also found that Drozdz had not received training on how to clean the conveyor safely, nor had she seen the machine’s cleaning instructions.

Crantock Bakery Ltd of Lodge Way, Indian Queens, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and guilty to breaching Regulation 11 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

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