- Company that makes cold press juices fined £100,000
- 25-year-old worker had arm trapped in machinery while clearing food blockage
- Daily Dose Ltd had failed to carry out a suitable risk assessment
A cold pressed juice manufacturer in Northamptonshire has been fined £100,000 after a worker’s arm was crushed after becoming entangled in a food processing machine.
The then 25-year-old was working for Daily Dose Ltd at its factory in Corby on 3 December 2024 when he attempted to clear vegetable pulp by hand from a machine known as a “Mash Pump”.
After lifting a lid on the machine’s hopper, the rotating worm screw within the hopper caught his gloved hand and he was drawn into the machine, trapping his arm and causing multiple injuries, including lacerations and fractures. The victim has been left with lifelong injuries.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Daily Dose Ltd failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery, namely the rotating parts of the Mash Pump and failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk posed by the machine to its operators.
HSE guidance states employers must take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. This will normally be by fixed guarding but where routine access is needed, interlocked guards (sometimes with guard locking) may be needed to stop the movement of dangerous parts before a person can reach the danger zone.
Daily Dose Ltd of Ensign House, London, England, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £8,776 in costs at Birmingham Crown Court on 16 September 2026.
HSE inspector Adam Johnson said:
“Every year, a significant proportion of accidents, many of them serious and sometimes fatal, occur as a result of poorly guarded work equipment.
“In this case this was a wholly avoidable incident, caused by the failure to guard dangerous parts. Had the company carried out a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk, suitable guarding arrangements and safe systems of work could have been implemented.
“The fine imposed on Daily Dose Ltd should underline to businesses that the courts, and HSE, take a failure to follow the regulations extremely seriously.
“We will not hesitate to take action against companies which do not do all that they should to keep people safe.”
The HSE prosecution was bought by HSE enforcement lawyer Andrew Siddal and paralegal officer Gabrielle O’Sullivan.
Further information:
- The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
- More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
- Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
- Relevant guidance can be found here Safe use of work equipment. Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Approved Code of Practice and guidance L22
- HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so. The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences can be found here.