The manufacturing company was fined £594,000 following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after an employee and their colleague suffered scald injuries while carrying out maintenance work on steam pipework in the company’s factory in Melton Mowbray.

The two men were working at the Kettleby Foods factory, operated by Samworth Brothers Ltd, which owns popular food brands including Ginsters, West Cornwall Pasty Co. and Soreen, when they were scalded by hot water from the pipework.

According to HSE, the men were both splashed with hot water from facility pipework, suffering scald injuries. One of the men suffered 4-5% subdermal burns, and the other suffered 9% subdermal, second-degree burns.

The investigation by HSE found that Samworth Brothers Limited had failed to risk assess the task and failed to document a safe system of work for the work being undertaken. The investigation also found that suitable isolation and lock-off procedures were not used at the time of the incident, and that the work was undertaken at height without sufficient measures in place to prevent a fall from height. There was said to be a lack of adequate supervision and monitoring procedures in place to ensure that expected processes were followed.

HSE Inspector Stacey Gamwell said: “A company this size should have known better. This was a wholly avoidable incident which could have resulted in even more serious consequences.

“If Samworth Brothers Ltd had properly risk-assessed the task, they would have identified the need for proper controls for working at height, as well as robust isolation and lock-off procedures, including supervision and monitoring to make sure those procedures and controls were properly enforced.

“Their failure led to severe and painful scalding injuries which should never have happened. The result handed down should serve as a warning to employers; when it comes to keeping people safe, HSE won’t hesitate to take action against firms which fall short.”

Samworth Brothers makes “severe changes” following internal investigation

A spokesperson for Samworth Brothers stated: “The health and safety of our colleagues is our most important priority, and we are very sorry that this incident happened.

“It is important to learn from these events. Immediately after the accident we launched an extensive internal review to fully understand what had happened. As a result of this internal investigation several changes were made immediately to further improve upon our health and safety systems and processes in this area of work across our business. In addition, we co-operated very closely with the Health and Safety Executive on their own investigations.”