Rice company fined for workers death

Posted on November 13^th 2009

A rice company has been fined £140,000 after a worker died due to serious injuries that he received in a workplace accident.

Mr Aulkh had entered a dangerous part of a rice silo machine, which should have been made inaccessible to workers. He had climbed in to the machine and one of his legs became entangled in an underflow screw conveyor. The injuries he sustained to his leg was so severe that he later died from them.

At Medway Magistrates Court, Veetee Rice Ltd pleaded guilty to the prosecutions laid out by the Health and Safety Executive, which included contravening regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Simply placing a padlock on the entrance to the machinery, and advising staff that certain areas should not be accessed could have avoided this accident.

£20,500 in costs was also charged to the company.

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