The owners of a pasta factory were given a one-year suspended jail term after an employee lost his left hand in a pastry machine which had its safety switch tampered with.
Magistrate Audrey Demicoli found Oreste Mercieca and Francis Xavier Galea, the owners of Pastizzerija Galea, guilty of causing serious injuries to their employee – Paul Schembri – through their negligence.
They were also found guilty of breaching several health and safety regulations.
In a statement yesterday, Occupational Health and Safety Authority chairman Deo Debattista spoke about the dangers of bypassing safety features.
This judgment should serve as an eye-opener to all those who even contemplate by passing safety features
“Employers have the legal duty to ensure the health and safety at all times of all persons who may be affected by the works being carried out. This judgment should serve as an eye-opener to all those who even contemplate bypassing safety features or in any other way act negligently,” he said.
During the case, Magistrate Demicoli heard how the accident happened on March 26, 2008, at about 11am at the factory located in the Marsa industrial estates. Mr Schembri was manning a pastry machine that rolled out dough into flat strips.
The machine had two motors that worked independently of each other: the top one spun stainless steel palettes that pushed the dough towards the lower motor that rolled it out.
The two motors were covered by a grid that was connected to a safety key. The machine only worked if the grid was closed since, once opened, the key automatically disconnected it.
Court expert Joseph Zammit said that the safety key had been removed and there were welding marks showing that the system had been by-passed. On the day of the incident the machine was in self-cleaning mode when Mr Schembri noticed crumbs inside it. He was under the impression that the machine was off, since the palettes were not moving, but did not realise that the lower motor was running.
When he reached inside, one of the palettes caught onto his watch and, for some reason, they started turning and crushed his hand. He reached out to a second emergency switch with the other hand and turned off the machine.
After taking note of the serious nature of the case, the magistrate handed down a 12-month jail term suspended for two years and fined them €1,500 each.
Mr Mercieca and Mr Galea have appealed the judgment.