HSE | A Bolton bakery company has been fined £16,667 after an employee fractured their hip falling from a large plastic pallet box while working at height.
The incident occurred on 15 April 2024 at Greenhalgh’s Craft Bakery Limited’s site in Lostock, Bolton. The employee had been standing on a pallet box to dispose of food waste into the top of a skip when they fell.
The HSE’s investigation found that Greenhalgh’s Craft Bakery Limited had failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for loading skips and had not provided appropriate equipment to ensure safe access. The investigation also found that inadequate supervision and monitoring had allowed unsafe working at height practices to become commonplace.
Greenhalgh’s Craft Bakery Limited, of Crescent Road, Bolton, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £16,667 and ordered to pay costs of £4,333.66, plus a victim surcharge of £2,000.
HSE Inspector Leanne Ratcliffe said: “Every employer has a duty to conduct a risk assessment. Employers should identify work-at-height activities and ensure that safe access is available and used. They should also ensure systems are in place for supervision and monitoring so that unsafe practices are identified and prevented.”
This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Arfaq Nabi and paralegal officer Hannah Snelling.
