Flower Supplier Fined After Unprotected Gap Leads To Amputation

Brief Summary

MM Flowers Limited was fined after an employee lost part of his leg during manual unloading when moving cargo slid and struck his trapped leg. The HSE investigation identified an unsafe system of work, including employees being required to physically intervene with stuck loads and an unrecognised unprotected gap in the roller deck. The case highlights the need to design and verify effective controls for everyday work activities.

What Was The Incident?

On 4 February 2023, an employee at the company’s Huntingdon processing facility was helping manually unload cargo from a delivery trailer. Cargo became stuck, and he and colleagues stepped onto a roller deck that had a gap. After the cargo was freed, a skid slid from the trailer onto the roller deck and struck his left leg, which was trapped in the gap.

What Was The Outcome?

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £134,000 and ordered to pay £4,908 in costs at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on 10 April 2026.

What Lessons Can Be Learnt?

Stop manual intervention with stuck loads unless it is fully controlled. If workers must physically intervene, risk controls need to prevent exposure to moving loads and ensure the safe procedure is followed in practice.

Identify and protect hazards in the work area. An unrecognised 10 cm gap on the roller deck created a step through risk, showing the importance of checking for physical hazards and putting protection in place.

Ensure risk assessments translate into safe systems of work. The HSE found the unsafe system of work was allowed to continue, so controls must be designed, implemented, and checked to make sure they work on the ground.

Treat everyday unloading activities as high consequence tasks. Serious harm occurred during normal seasonal operations, reinforcing that routine tasks still require thorough assessment and effective controls.

Use incident learning to verify prevention measures. This case shows how failing to identify risks around moving skids and vulnerable access points can lead to life changing injury, so prevention arrangements should be reviewed where similar work is carried out.

HSE Prosecution Link