Pret a Manger has been fined £800,000 after a worker was trapped in a walk-in freezer in a remote kitchen at Victoria coach station in London.
The sandwich chain pleaded guilty to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this week after it was found there had been no suitable risk assessment before the incident in 2021.
Wearing only a t-shirt and jeans, the employee was exposed to temperatures as low as -18C for two and a half hours.
She tried to keep warm by moving around in the confined space, but after some time she began to feel unwell, finding that her breathing was becoming restricted and that she was losing sensation in her thighs and feet.
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An investigation by Westminster City Council’s health and safety team found that there was no suitable risk assessment for employees working in temperature-controlled environments.
To try and keep warm, the employee tore up a cardboard box containing chocolate croissants in an attempt to shield herself from the ventilator blowing in cold air.
The worker was eventually found by a colleague, in a state of distress and believing she was going to die. She was taken to hospital where she was treated for suspected hypothermia.
The reporting system used by Pret a Manger revealed that there had been a number of call-outs relating to defective or frozen push buttons in the previous 19 months, including an occasion at the same remote kitchen in January 2020 when another worker was trapped in the freezer, having been unable to exit from the inside because the door release mechanism was not working.
Councillor Aicha Less, Westminster City Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for communities, public protection and licensing, said: “The shocking details of this case show a lapse of due care and attention. This incident shows that overlooking basic safety measures can have the most serious consequences.
“We hope the significant fine awarded in court acts as a warning to all businesses and prevents anything similar from ever happening again.”
Pret a Manger was ordered to pay the council its full costs, in addition to a victim surcharge, within 28 days. When passing her sentence, the district judge decided on a fine of £1.6 million, but this was halved because of an early guilty plea and mitigation advanced on behalf of the company.
A Pret a Manger spokesman said: “We have carried out a full review and have worked with the manufacturer to develop a solution to stop this from happening again.
“Following the incident, we have revisited all our existing systems and where appropriate, enhanced these processes, and have co-operated fully with Westminster City Council’s investigation.”
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Councillor Less added that the council will continue to work with businesses to make sure the highest levels of health and safety are consistently maintained and to educate staff in safe practice.
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