Sandwich chain Pret A Manger has been fined £800,000 (A$1.5 million) over an incident where an employee was trapped in a walk-in freezer for two and a half hours.
The female worker, who was dressed only in jeans and a T-shirt, was forced to stay warm by moving around the -18C freezer.
The employee was eventually rescued after being found in distress by a colleague
and was treated for suspected hypothermia.
The worker said she feared for her life during the incident, which happened London in July 2021.
While trapped, the worker’s breathing was restricted while she gradually lost sensation in her thighs and feet. She attempted to use a torn cardboard box as a shield from the cold air blowing from the ventilator, but her hands were too cold to break the box.
Pret A Manger pleaded guilty to a health and safety offence at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and were slapped with the hefty fine this week.
The investigation, conducted by Westminster City Council, revealed that there was no suitable risk assessment for employees working in temperature-controlled environments.
The company’s reporting system showed multiple instances of call-outs related to defective or frozen push buttons in the freezer in the 19 months prior to the incident.
A previous incident in January 2020 involved another worker becoming trapped in the freezer due to a malfunctioning internal door release mechanism in the same kitchen.
A spokesperson from Pret A Manger acknowledged the incident and told the BBC that the company had conducted a comprehensive review and collaborated with the manufacturer to prevent similar incidents in the future.
They also mentioned that they had improved existing systems and cooperated fully with the investigation by Westminster City Council.
