A PORTHMADOG company has been ordered to pay fines and costs of over £30,000 for its “very careless safety arrangements” after a 2014 incident which saw a workman suffer “serious injuries” and lose two fingers.

Ffrwythau DJ Fruits, based at Porthmadog business park, and its managing director Gethin Dwyfor, entered guilty pleas at Caernarfon Magistrates Court for breaching health and safety law, and were sentenced in 15 June.

The charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 were considered in May by magistrates, relating to an incident at the company’s warehouse on 19 December 2014.

The court heard that an independent contractor was carrying out repair work at height on the company’s warehouse door on the day. The contractor was standing on a wooden palette raised with a forklift when he fell and severely injured his right hand – his “main hand”.

Two of his fingers had to be amputated, and he also suffered a serious injury to his little finger.

Gwynedd Council, which brought the prosecution, said the contractor “will have to deal with the consequences [of the incident] for the rest of his life.”

Mr Dwyfor told the Cambrian News that the company “wishes to express its sincere regret for the accident and the injuries sustained by the contractor” and that extra health and safety measures are now in place.

“The company is a responsible employer which has always adopted a serious approach to health and safety and this was very much an isolated incident,” he said.

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