Worker loses leg after becoming trapped in machine - company fined

A company that grows mushrooms has been fined after an employee’s leg became trapped in a machine and was later amputated in East Yorkshire.

Luka Ilic’s right leg was caught by the rotating blades of a mushroom filling machine and became stuck in the device’s moving parts on October 16, 2019.

He was part of a team of three at Howden Enterprises Ltd, trading under the name Hughes Mushrooms, that was cleaning the machine at the firm’s premises in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.

The then 29-year-old climbed onto the machine – used to prepare and fill compost in growing trays – to remove the last remaining parts of the compost.

The machine was then turned on, leading to Mr Ilic’s leg being caught by the rotating blades in the mixing axle and becoming trapped.

The mixing axle that Luka Ilic’s right leg was caught in (Image: HSE)

His leg was later amputated below the knee at hospital.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident found Howden Enterprises Ltd failed to adequately assess the operation of the filling machine, in particular the cleaning of the machine.

The firm failed to ensure their robust isolation and safe operating procedures were in place and followed, HSE said.

Howden Enterprises Ltd, of Trew Mount Road, Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £73,333.00 and ordered to pay £7,522.60 in costs at Hull and Holderness Magistrates Court on 10 April 2024.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Louise Redgrove said the incident “could have easily been avoided with a robust isolation procedure and padlock for each worker involved”.

“The importance of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment which reflects all actual practical activities cannot be underestimated,” she said.

“It is vital to ensure there are effective systems of work and physical controls which are implemented, supervised and used by all those involved.”