Prosecutions

The accident occurred on 2 July 2009 when a 40-year-old employee was pumping oil heated to around 150°C from a frying range through a filtering machine and back into a 60-litre polymer drum for collection by a waste oil company.

The base of the drum then partially melted, allowing oil to leak onto the floor. The employee, who was wearing flip-flops at the time, slipped and fell, sustaining severe burns to around 20 per cent of her body. She was hospitalised for seven weeks and underwent a number of skin grafts.

An Environmental Health Officer (EHO) from Exeter City Council commented: ‘We sent the melted drum to the health and safety laboratory for analysis. They determined that the melting point of the polymer from which it was constructed was 138°C, meaning that it was totally unsuitable for receiving hot oil from a fryer.’

The case was heard at Exeter magistrates’ court. The shop’s owning company was dissolved in January 2011. As the company only had a single director at the time, the prosecution was brought against him.

The director pleaded guilty to charges of failing to protect his employees’ health and safety and for failing to conduct a suitable risk assessment.

He was fined £10,000, after having an early guilty plea taken into consideration, and ordered to pay costs of £4,084.

The EHO said similar drums to those used by the chip shop were in common use in the food industry. ‘I would therefore stress to anybody handling hot liquids the importance of using the correct container.’