Farming company fined for safety breaches

Cattle farming company I&C Hadjiyiannakou Farms Ltd was fined a total of €11,000 by the Larnaca district court following prosecution for several breaches of safety and health regulations, as well as labour laws.

The string of breaches resulted in one of the company’s employees being severely injured.

The violations included, among others, the failure to implement a safe work method during the removal of feed stuck in a feeder.

This resulted in an employee inserting their hand into the feeder and coming into contact with a rotating cutting blade in operation, leading to the complete amputation of their right hand’s index, middle, and ring fingers.

Other violations were the omission to provide appropriate information and instructions regarding the work equipment of the feed mill and the failure to provide a written risk assessment for the safety and health of their employees and others, leading to the exposure of these individuals to risks due to the late detection and assessment of the hazards.

The court also fined the company A&P Andreou ltd, operating in the manufacture of feed mill and other machineries, a total of €500 for violating basic safety rules, such as neglecting to ensure that, before supplying and installing machinery on a cattle farm, they had affixed the CE marking on the machinery and provided necessary information such as machinery usage instructions.