Sainsbury’s has been prosecuted following an accident that left a Cheshire in-store bakery manager with serious neck and back injuries.

The employee, of the company’s Curzon Road store in Sale, slipped on water, which had leaked from a dough prover onto the floor of the bakery in March 2004. Environmental health officers from Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council found that the store’s managers had failed to control a risk that could easily have been avoided by putting down matting or regularly mopping the area.

Sainsbury’s was convicted of two health and safety offences under Section 2 of the Health and Safety Act at Work 1974 and Regulation 12 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. It was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,040.

June Reill, Trafford’s executive member for environmental services, said: “Our environmental health team carries out focused visits to local businesses. The council takes health and safety very seriously and will not hesitate to take legal proceedings where appropriate.”