A Northamptonshire-based maker of crisps and snacks has been fined £330,000 after an agency worker had the tops of three of his fingers severed below the knuckle.
The man, working at Tayto Group Limited, was clearing a blockage of material from a machine on a production line in August 2015, Northampton Crown Court heard.
His hand came into came into contact with shears and three fingers on his right hand were severed, below the first knuckle.
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Tayto Group Limited, of Princewood Road, Earlstrees Industrial Estate, Corby, pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which investigated the incident, found that the guard on the machine was not secured at the time of the incident. The company had also not implemented a formal monitoring system on the machine to ensure that all guards were in place and secure before it was started.
In addition to the fine Tayto Group was ordered to pay costs of £11,752.23.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Michelle Morrison said: "This man suffered a life-changing injury in what was an entirely preventable incident.
“Employers must have adequate and robust systems to ensure that guards used to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery are in place and secure before machinery is put into use.”
