Larnaca district court has fined a company €6,000 for not maintaining health and safety measures which resulted in the amputation of an employee’s hand, it was announced on Wednesday.

The company, MP Theodorou (Salt Industry) & Co Ltd, that processes and packages salt, was fined for violating the minimum health and safety requirements causing the serious injury of a worker.

The case was brought by the labour inspection department of the labour ministry.

The company failed to install adequate protection on a salt feed hopper, where the moving parts of the equipment were located and specifically the salt transport screw.

As a result, the right hand of the employee got caught in the screw and had to be amputated.

The employees were also not informed about instructions for the equipment and particularly about the risks of contact with its moving parts.