McDonald’s fine after chemical eye injury

Fast food giant McDonald’s has been taken to court recently by Wandsworth Council following an incident that left one of its employees half-blinded in one eye.

The company was prosecuted after a member of staff suffered burns to his face and eyes that left him with only around 55% vision in his left eye.

The injuries were caused when the man, who was working as a maintenance operative at the company’s Wandsworth Bridge drive-through restaurant, used an acid-based drain cleaner to unblock a waste pipe.

Managers at the branch authorised the use of this hazardous chemical even though there had been no risk assessment of the dangers involved, the employee had not been properly trained in the use of this substance, was not surpervised whilst using it and had not been given any protective equipment for the task.

McDonald’s pleaded guilty to one offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay the council’s prosecution costs of £15,744.

South Western magistrates court heard that the incident occurred on June 23, 2008 when the staff member was tasked with unblocking a waste pipe to a washing machine.

When a hot water jet failed to dislodge the blockage, the employee, with the full knowledge of his manager, purchased a corrosive chemical drain cleaner called One Shot from a local DIY store. The first attempt at using this sulphuric acid-based cleaner did not work and so the employee was given money by a manager to buy a second bottle. When this bottle was poured into the pipe, its contents blew back into the employee’s face and both his eyes. He was given first aid at the scene before being taken to hospital by ambulance.

Following treatment he recovered about 97% vision in his right eye but only between 55 and 60% in his left eye.

The council’s environment spokesman Cllr Sarah McDermott said: “As a company McDonald’s has a good overall safety record, but in this case its standards fell below what would reasonably be expected of a responsible employer.

“Their member of staff was given money by his managers to buy a very hazardous product. No risk assessment was carried out to ensure this product was safe to use, he was not properly supervised while using it, he was not given any training to reduce the risk of an accident, nor was he provided with protective clothing.

“This was a serious lapse in the company’s internal procedures. Using a hazardous chemical to clean a drain would involve obvious safety risks.

“In this case the company failed in its duty of care to this member of staff. As a result he has been left with a permanent and debilitating eye injury.

“We hope this case will serve as an important reminder to all employers that they must always take proper steps to ensure the safety of their employees in the workplace.”

A spokesperson for McDonald’s said: ““We are very sorry for the eye injury incurred by our staff member. We regret that on this occasion our stringent safety procedures were not followed and inappropriate, non-approved cleaning materials were used.

“As part of our ongoing continuous improvement programme, we have since reiterated to all our restaurants the dangers of using non-approved cleaning materials, introduced a specific personalised risk assessment for maintenance employees and retraining of the local restaurant team”.