HSE Crackdown Highlights Severe Bakery Dust Risks

A food manufacturing company has been ordered to pay £120,000 after a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed that employees were routinely exposed to dangerous levels of inhalable dust and hazardous manual handling practices. Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court heard that workers at Puratos Limited in Buckingham were put at risk of contracting debilitating long-term health conditions, including occupational asthma, due to inadequate dust control measures across the facility.

The prosecution follows a targeted initiative by the HSE inspecting large bakeries and food production facilities across Great Britain. Inspectors have been rigorously checking whether employers are complying with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002, specifically concerning the management of dusty ingredients such as flour and bread-improver enzymes.

Unsafe Practices and COSHH Breaches Identified

The HSE inspection, conducted on 3 December 2024, uncovered multiple systemic safety failures. Investigators found that dust was escaping freely from machinery due to poor maintenance and equipment leaks. Furthermore, staff were actively engaging in prohibited or dangerous cleaning routines, including using compressed air lines to blow down dust deposits and dry sweeping accumulated flour with conventional brushes and brooms—methods that instantly launch fine particulate matter back into the breathing zone.

A subsequent workplace dust monitoring report confirmed that employees were working amid inhalable dust concentrations well above the workplace exposure limits established by the HSE. In addition to respiratory risks, the investigation highlighted that personnel were required to regularly lift heavy 25kg sacks of dry ingredients manually, creating significant musculoskeletal and manual handling hazards without adequate engineering controls or mechanical lifting aids.

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  • Failure to prevent dust escape from leaking manufacturing machinery.
  • Use of unsafe cleaning methods such as compressed air and dry brushing.
  • Exceeding official workplace exposure limits for inhalable grain and flour dust.
  • Repeated manual handling of heavy 25kg ingredient loads without risk mitigation.

Legal Consequences and Industry Warning

Puratos Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Alongside the £120,000 fine imposed at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court, the firm was ordered to pay additional prosecution costs of £6,270. Records showed the Buckingham site had previously faced HSE scrutiny in 2021 regarding similar dust exposure and manual handling violations, compounding the severity of the latest breach.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Emma Page emphasized that regulatory bodies will continue taking robust enforcement action against food businesses that neglect basic respiratory protections. Employers are legally obligated to follow the COSHH hierarchy of control—prioritizing elimination and substitution of dusty powders, implementing effective local exhaust ventilation (LEV), and providing appropriate respiratory protective equipment (RPE) only as a last line of defense. Comprehensive training and regular health surveillance remain paramount to safeguarding industrial workforces. Ensuring that supervisors and operational staff hold up-to-date qualifications is essential for maintaining compliance. For structured guidance and accredited safety programs, organizations can explore professional offerings provided by Abertay Training at https://www.abertaytraining.co.uk.