The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reminded employers of their legal duties relating to manual handling after a worker was injured when a 50kg (110lb) sack of basmati rice fell on his neck.

East End Foods plc pleaded guilty to failing to take reasonable care of employees under Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 on 22 January. It was fined GBP25,000 (USD49,218) with GBP28,000 (USD55,124) in costs.

The Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that during an investigation in June 2006 into an incident where an employee was injured by a sack of rice falling onto the back of his neck, it was revealed that large consignments of 50kg sacks of rice were being manually offloaded from containers without mechanical assistance.

Employees were being raised and lowered on a pallet placed on a forklift's tynes to access containers and retrieve sacks of rice.

From January to June 2006, about 1,700 tones of rice had been delivered that were manually offloaded.

HSE inspector Judith Lloyd says: "In the food and drink industry, 30% of all acute injuries result from bad practice in manual handling. Stacking and de-stacking sacks, boxes and crates are amongst the top five causes of manual handling injuries in the food and drink industry. Studies have shown that three-quarters of these injuries are preventable."

After falls from height, HSE statistics show transport as the second-biggest cause of work-related deaths. Every year, around 70 people are killed in transport-related accidents in the workplace and around eight of those involve forklifts.

Of 2,249 reported accidents in one year, involving forklifts, 626 caused major injuries, including amputations and broken bones.

HSE published the latest annual work related fatal injury statistics on 26 July 2007 which can be viewed at: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm.

More guidance and advice is available at www.hse.gov.uk/msd/pushpull/index.htm.