– Employee fractured their hip after falling from a large plastic pallet box while disposing of food waste into a skip
– The company failed to carry out a suitable risk assessment for loading skips and did not provide appropriate equipment for safe working at height
– HSE guidance is available
A Bolton bakery company has been fined £16,667 after an employee fractured their hip falling from a large plastic pallet box while working at height.
The incident occurred on 15 April 2024 at Greenhalgh’s Craft Bakery Limited’s site in Lostock, Bolton. The employee had been standing on a pallet box to dispose of food waste into the top of a skip when they fell.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Greenhalgh’s Craft Bakery Limited had failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for loading skips and had not provided appropriate equipment to ensure safe access. The investigation also found that inadequate supervision and monitoring had allowed unsafe working at height practices to become commonplace.
Greenhalgh’s Craft Bakery Limited, of Crescent Road, Bolton, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £16,667 and ordered to pay costs of £4,333.66, plus a victim surcharge of £2,000, at Tameside Magistrates’ Court on 13 March 2026.
Working at height remains one of the leading causes of workplace injury and death. HSE guidance on working at height explains how to plan and carry out work at height safely, including the importance of selecting appropriate equipment and ensuring suitable supervision.
HSE Inspector Leanne Ratcliffe said: “Every employer has a duty to conduct a risk assessment. Employers should identify work-at-height activities and ensure that safe access is available and used. They should also ensure systems are in place for supervision and monitoring so that unsafe practices are identified and prevented.”
This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Arfaq Nabi and paralegal officer Hannah Snelling.
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 Managing risks and risk assessment at work: Overview – HSE
- 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.
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