A Bedford double-glazing manufacturer has been prosecuted, after two employees were seriously injured by falling glass sheets.

Sixty year old Justo Llerena and a colleague, who has not been named, were working for Clearglaze Ltd, at their plant on the Elms Farm Industrial Estate, in Bedford and were attempting to lift two large glass sheets using a pendant crane and an A frame.

However as the two men worked around the A frame, it toppled over on top of them, causing serious injuries to both of them as the glass shattered.

Mr. Llerena suffered serious lacerations to his elbow and arm, which required surgery and due to complications with the procedure he still suffers pain and has been unable, as yet, to return to work.

His colleague suffered a serious cut to his right index finger, which caused him to be away from work for ten weeks.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and concluded that Clearglaze should have ensured that the A frame was safely secured and not in any danger of falling over.

Clearglaze Ltd, of the Elms Farm Industrial Estate, in Bedford, was fined £5,000 after admitting a breach of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations, following a successful prosecution by the HSE at Bedford Magistrates’ Court.

A food company has been prosecuted and fined, after an engineer suffered a fractured skull in a fall from height accident.

The forty nine year old employee, who has not been named, was working at Cranswick Country Foods (Norfolk) Ltd, near Watton, where he was investigating a faulty data logger which was attached to a cooling unit.

Norwich Magistrates Court was told that the engineer had gained access to the cooling unit by using a free standing ladder, unfortunately as he reached for his tools the ladder slipped and sent him crashing almost three metres to the ground below.

He was hospitalised for four days following the accident, after suffering a fractured skull and damage to a bone in his right ear which has left him with debilitating tinnitus, he was not able to return to work for a month following the fall and is currently working reduced hours.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and discovered that the ladder had no foot supports or top ties to prevent it from moving.

Cranswick Country Foods, based in Hull, East Yorkshire, was fined £10,000 after admitting a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

A Peterborough nursing assistant has launched a £1.8 million compensation claim, after she slipped on spilt food in an accident at work.

Thirty nine year old Michelle Lay, from Yaxley, was working at a local mental health unit and was unloading a food trolley, when she slipped on left-over’s that had been spilt onto the floor.

Mrs Lay told the High Court that as she slipped she literally left the floor before crashing down onto the base of her spine and banging her head on the food trolley.

As a result of her injuries Mrs Lay claims that she suffered agonising pain in her back and neck, which forced her to leave her job at the unit and led to an operation to fuse the top part of her spine.

Mrs Lay launched a claim for compensation against the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, who manage the unit, initially claiming £100,000 in damages for her back injury; however this was later updated to £1.8 million to include the damage done to her neck.

The legal team representing the NHS Trust are arguing that Mrs Lay’s neck injury could be traced back to an earlier accident when she was just nineteen.

Medical evidence has so far proved inconclusive and judgement has been reserved until a later date.