Unsafe equipment leaves takeaway owner £2,000 bill
ADANGEROUS pizza-rolling machine and other unsafe equipment has left a takeaway owner with a £2,000 bill after being prosecuted by council inspectors.
The suspect machinery was discovered at Pizza Time Express in Whitworth.
Owner Hazim Alsaedi, 45, of Carlington Road, Blackburn, had been found guilty of three health and safety offences at a previous hearing.
He was fined £480 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs and a £48 victim surcharge when he appeared at Burnley mag- istrates court for sentenc- ing.
Environmental Health officers from Rossendale council carried out a routine inspection at the Market Street takeaway in March 2017. They found that a vegetable shredding machine, which uses high speed rotating blades, had a faulty safety guard.
Officers also found that a pizza dough roller did not have an adequate safety guard and that Alsaedi had removed the hand rail and balustrade from stairs at the shop.
He had previously been warned about this and had initially replaced them after being served with an improvement notice in July 2014.
Alsaedi was prosecuted by the council and the magistrates ruled that he was culpable for the shortcomings in the management of health and safety at his premises.
Coun Jackie Oakes, Rossendale council’s portfolio holder for environmental health, said: “People’s health and safety should not be put at risk when they turn up to work. Business owners have a duty to make sure that their equipment and their premises are safe.
“Thankfully, no one was injured in this case but it should serve as a warning to others.
“We have previously taken court action against other businesses – who can ill-afford such fines and costs – for breaching health and safety legislation and we will continue to do so where it is necessary to protect employees.”