Sainsbury’s, A supermarket giant has been fined £1M on the 8th of April 2022 following a customer accident.
What leads to the Sainsbury’s supermarket’s one million pounds fine.
According to IOSH Magazine, the West Berkshire council investigator, Abi Stinson narrated that the incident happened during the covid 19 pandemic.
The store had its queuing system for customers with some bits of temporary metal and heavyweight plastic with red and white barrier tape due to covid 19 social distancing.
However, due to breaking and unavailability of the tape, black and white baler twine was used. The black and white baler twine had been tied between two supporting columns for the upper car parking deck. The black and white baler twine tape are mainly for tying excess packaging cardboard.
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On 21 June 2020, Patricia Campton, a customer, drove to the Sainsbury’s supermarket with her mobility scooter.
While driving, She saw a queue of other customers and wanted to get to the end of the queue.
And she hasn’t been out for a while and may not have been familiar with the queuing system in Sainsbury’s supermarket.
The black and white baler strung was not visible for her to see. And it was strung between two posts. She drove into it with her mobility scooter and sustained injuries.
The incident led her to undergo first aid at the scene through Sainsbury staff and later had emergency surgery at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford.
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However, Sainsbury’s was fined at the Reading magistrate court 1 million pounds. And to pay costs of 18260 pounds for pleading guilty to the one safety offence.
An offence of exposing customers to danger and failing to make a suitable risk assessment contrary to the HSE at work Act.
Last year, It was on record that the supermarket chain generated a revenue of about 32.5 billion pounds.
Onyeka Emma is a QHSE Professional with more than 10 years of experience in occupational health and safety, which spans many industries such as construction, beverage, oil and gas, etc. He has many health and safety certifications, including NEBOSH IGC, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001:2018 Lead auditor certificate. A member of IOSH, ISPON, and Nigeria Red Cross Society. He is interested in business, entrepreneurship, Speaking, and motivating people to do better for themselves. He enjoys leisure with a good motivational book.
