Cleaner has head cut off in giant meat blending machine

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:29 AM on 16th July 2009


A meat processing company has pleaded guilty to breaching health and
safety laws after a cleaner's head was cut off in a giant blender.

DeliCo Ltd was found to be in breach of health and safety laws when
worker Lynda Trebilock was fatally injured, a court heard.

Mrs Trebilcock was inspecting a blender used to mix four tonnes of meat
when she crouched beneath the machine to inspect a flap, where the load
is discharged, to ensure it was clean.

But the flap closed suddenly with substantial force acting like a pair
of 'scissors' cutting off the top of her head above the eyebrows.
DeliCo Ltd

DeliCo Ltd in Buckinghamshire was found in breach of health and safety
laws after cleaner Lynda Trebilcock had her head cut off in a mixing blender

Two colleagues working at the DeliCo Ltd plant in Tattenhoe, Milton
Keynes, Bucks., heard her scream and found her lying on her back on the
floor.

She died from serious head injuries.

DeliCo Ltd, who own and operate the plant, appeared in Milton Keynes
Magistrates' Court last Friday in relation to Mrs Trebilcock's death.

Mrs Trebilock, from Heelands, Milton Keynes, had been working at the
plant as cleaning team leader for less than two months before the
accident on May 19, 2007.

Prosecutor Geoffrey Knipe told the court it appeared the 53-year-old
accidentally locked a metal clipboard being used to cover a sensor to
keep the flap open.

Mr Knipe said: 'The machine had a proximity switch to check there was a
large metal container to receive the meat when it came out of the flap.

'At times the company was using a plastic container so to bypass the
proximity switch and keep the flap open they were using a metal clipboard.

'It can only be assumed that someone, possibly Mrs Trebilcock herself,
hit this metal clipboard and knocked it from the switch, causing the
flap to close on her head and she died as a result.'

He said the Health and Safety Executive had investigated and found
numerous examples of 'inadequate instruction, training and supervision.'

DeliCo Ltd is owned by Cranswick Convenience Foods Plc, which acquired
the company in 2006.

John Hall, mitigating, said following the take-over Cranswick had begun
reviewing all health and safety practices to put 'proper systems in
place and bring it in line with the group's high standards'.

DeliCo Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching its duty to ensure the health,
safety and welfare at work to its employees.

The company will be sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court in
Buckinghamshire at a date to be fixed.