Man’s finger cut off during accident in Tyrone butchers

A Co Tyrone butcher has been fined and ordered to pay the costs of legal proceedings for a health and safety breach, which saw one of his staff sustain ‘life-changing injuries’.

Patrick Traynor, whose age is unknown, from Main Street, Ballygawley admitted failing to ensure the safety and welfare of his employees and failing to make suitable and sufficient assessments of risk to which they were exposed in the course of work.

The offences occurred between May 22 and September 1, 2023.

Dungannon Crown Court heard Traynor employed the injured party, a 32-year-old man, as a part-time assistant butcher who wasn’t trained, although had some previous experience in meat processing.

His job included preparing and packing cuts of meat, trimming chicken fillets and using a mincer to grind beef for burgers.

While there was a verbal briefing on how to operate the mincer, the manual stated it should not be used without the fitted protective guard – also known as a restriction plate – and there should be no modifications to the device.

In March 2023, an issue arose with three fastenings coming loose which was interfering with the mechanism used to push meat through.

A decision was made to ‘break the guard off’ in order to continue working and the matter was reported to management.

Efforts were made to have the mincer repaired but these were unsuccessful.

Traynor arranged for replacement but there was  quite a delay in this being delivered.

The existing miner was the only machine available and work continued.

The injured party, nor any other staff were instructed to cease using it.

On hearing this, Judge Richard Greene KC remarked: “The injured party was therefore instructed by default to keep using the mincer.”

In the course of using the device it was clog with meat which was usually cleared using a plunger-type instrument. However, this was not possible without the guard in place, so it was done manually by hand.

On September 1, 2023, the injured party was working with another staff member making burgers when some meat gathered blocking the mechanism.

‘Without thinking’, he put left hand in to push the blockage free and his fingers were caught by the blades.

As a result of this, one finger was fully amputated, as well as the top of another.

Traynor immediately reported the incident to the Mid Ulster District Council Environmental Health department and cooperated fully with their investigations.

It transpired while there were risk assessments in place they were not sufficient for this device.

Traynor accepted when the machine broke it should have been taken out of the building completely until repaired or replaced.

Judge Greene told him: “Whatever risk-assessments you had were woefully inadequate as shown by the outcome for the victim. Effectively, responsibility for his safety was left to him. You were aware the mincer was defective for a period of five months. While this was an accident, it was an accident waiting to happen. If the mechanism isn’t there to prevent accidents, then they will happen.”

He continued: “The device presented an obvious risk. Your option was clear.

It should have been either removed or replaced. This was an avoidable accident with life-changing consequences for the injured party.”

Judge Greene  imposed fines totalling £2,500 and ordered Traynor to pay the legal costs of the case which were £4,048. The injured party has already been compensated.