Bernard Matthews faces fine

Turkey kingpin Bernard Matthews was penalized £300,000 when a worker at the company’s Suffolk facility was paralyzed after being pulled by a machine.

When Colin Frewin attempted to remove a turkey trapped at the bottom of a machine at the company’s Suffolk facility in January 2020, he was left with terrible injuries.

The 54-year-old was in charge of cleaning a sizable screw conveyor that was used to transfer and chill turkeys when he saw a single bird trapped at the bottom of the machine. He was so into the machine that he tried to move it with a squeegee.

The emergency stop wasn’t initiated until a coworker realized he was gone and overheard his cries for assistance.

An examination by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that the company, which will provide millions of Britons with their Thanksgiving turkeys, had a dangerous work system that allowed the chillers to keep running even while Mr. Frewin attempted to remove the obstruction.

The company was fined $300,000 after admitting to breaking the rules on health and safety at work.

After the event, Mr. Frewin was hospitalized for six months, three of which were spent in an induced coma. He is now permanently paralyzed.

A perforated left lung, many broken ribs, four shattered vertebrae, and a spinal hemorrhage were just a few of the numerous wounds he received.

Mr. Frewin said in a victim impact statement submitted to the Chelmsford Crown Court that he would always be in a wheelchair because he would never be able to walk again.

I now have a suprapubic catheter that was implanted during surgery. I need daily bowel care from the district nurse, who also pays me daily visits at home.

I also have AD, a disorder that is fatal since it prevents my body from recognizing when I’m unwell.

“I have relocated from my seaside apartment to a house.” I miss being near to the beachfront and all the conveniences, as well as viewing the water. I feel alone since I can’t go when I want because I need others to help me.

“I can’t get my wheelchair inside their houses, so I can’t socialize with my friends and family as often as I used to.”

Since I don’t go out much, physical connections are quite difficult for me. My life and the lives of my family have been impacted by the accident.

Five months before, on August 12, 2019, the same plant’s turkey deboning line had to be shut down due to a malfunction, forcing workers to transfer to an extra production line.

One of the wings got jammed in the belt below the machine while operating on the surplus manufacturing line.

Adriano Gama, a worker, tried to move it out of the way, but as he did so, his gloved hand was caught in the exposed sprocket of the conveyer and was pulled into the device.

The 34-year-old was finally freed, but not before sustaining a shattered arm and forearm muscle injury.

Pre-start inspections were only carried out on the manufacturing lines that day, according to an HSE inquiry. As a result, there was no mechanism in place for employees on the excess deboning line to guarantee that material was verified before being placed into use.

A team leader had alerted the engineering team about the removal of two safety guards, but nothing was done about it.

In the case of Mr. Gama, Bernard Matthews Food Ltd., of Sparrowhawk Road, Halesworth in Suffolk, admitted to violating section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined $100,000.

The firm was also had to pay an additional £15,000 in connection with the two instances, for a total penalty of £415,000.

The results were catastrophic for Mr. Frewin in particular, but both occurrences might have been averted, according to HSE Principal Inspector Adam Hills.

“They might have been easily avoided if Bernard Matthews had taken action to identify and manage the risks involved and put in place a safe system of work.”

Fundamentally, cleaning a machine while it is in use is not advised.

“Companies need to make sure that risk assessments include cleaning and blocking actions, and if necessary, that these processes have reliable isolation and shut off methods in place.”

“Before usage, you may set up certain pre-start tests, and if flaws are found—like missing guards—they need to be explicitly reported, recorded, fixed, and closed out.”

The company was established by Bernard Matthews, the son of a car mechanic, and provides around seven million turkeys annually. When he found 20 turkey eggs for sale, he bought them for one shilling each, and at age 18, he also bought a paraffin oil incubator.

He paid £3,000 bought Norfolk’s Great Witchingham Hall in the 1950s and put turkeys in all 35 of its rooms.

Turkeys were hatched in the dining room, raised in the bedrooms, and butchered in the kitchens while he and his wife resided in two unheated rooms, ultimately leading to a well-known firm and brand.

Mr. Matthews had acquired a personal wealth that was thought to be worth over £300 million at the time of his death in 2010.