Personal injury news

Supermarket ordered to pay fine for accident at work

Tesco has been fined £24,000 after a bakery assistant was scarred by hot oil from a doughnut-frying machine.

The serious accident at work happened at the Tesco store in Asbury when a member of staff suffered burns to her feet after hot oil dripped out from a doughnut making machine.

Tesco admitted that the work accident could have been prevented and that managers should had provided metal buckets to catch the drips of oil.

The supermarket pleaded guilty to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 was fined £10,000 with costs of £13,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 to the injured worker.

Kathryn Preece, Head of Environmental Health at North West Leicestershire District Council, which led the prosecution, said, "If the correct equipment for undertaking tasks is not provided, this can lead to employees putting themselves at risk of injury, sometimes without realising it.

"Had the correct equipment been available and the injured person had been properly trained and supervised this accident would not have occurred.

"All companies need to be vigilant in ensuring that safe working procedures are effectively implemented."

If the employee had not been awarded the £1,000 compensation in court, they may have considered contacting personal injury solicitors to make an accident at work compensation claim for their burn injuries.