Fatty Arbuckles manager broke health and safety rules

A manager failed to provide proper health and safety conditions for employees of a Lincoln Fatty Arbuckles restaurant in which a teenager died, a court heard yesterday.

 

Kitchen assistant Mark Thorne, 17, was electrocuted in August 1998 when trying to move a plate warmer while mopping the floor at the restaurant.

 

Charles Helmrich, who was a health and safety manager for the Fatty Arbuckles chain at the time of

 

	Arbuckles: manager in court

the accident, appeared before Lincoln magistrates yesterday charged with breaking the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

 

Lincoln City Council claims he breached section seven of the act, which requires employees to take reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves and others at work.

 

Helmrich denies the charge.

 

David Griffith-Jones QC, prosecuting, told the court that there were "deficiencies in the health and safety regime for which the defendant must bear responsibility".

 

Griffith-Jones told the court that staff at the restaurant did not have sufficient health and safety training and that there were no risk assessments in place.

 

"The striking feature of the case is that he failed to carry out risk assessments. It seemed to be a conscious decision," he said.

 

The court heard from two witnesses, Fatty Arbuckles waiter Matthew Clarke and assistant kitchen manager Adam Clarke, who said they had both had electric shocks from the plate warmer that killed Thorne.

 

Peter Kelson QC, defending, said the case confused the responsibilities of an employer and an employee.

 

He said: "They are heaping on his shoulders all of the enormous responsibility of the employer. The defence is that they are prosecuting the wrong person."

 

The trial continues.

 

© Lincolnshire Echo