EUROPE'S second largest malt producer has been fined £100,000 after a worker suffered horrific injuries while carrying out checks.

The agency worker, who has not been named, fell two metres from a precariously positioned ladder at West Knapton malting factory, near Pickering, and sustained two fractures to his right foot, head injuries and bruising to his chest, Scarborough magistrates were told.

The worker, employed by Pauls Malt Limited on May 6 last year, had been in the process of checking the fill level of the malt in a container he was loading for export prior to closing the hopper feed.

The container was fitted with a full-size fabric liner with a high level loading flap which would be zipped up once the container was full.

Magistrates heard a system of work had developed which involved propping a four-metre long ladder against the rear of the container to gain access to the zip-up flap.

The ladder was too long for this purpose and was propped at too shallow an angle. The ladder slipped outwards at the foot, causing the agency worker to fall with the ladder.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive into the incident found the company had not carried out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the work at height involved in closing the zipped flaps on the fabric liners used to line containers that were being loaded with malt for export.

Pauls Malt Limited, trading as Boortmalt, which produces 1.1million tonnes of malt annually for brewers and distillers from around the world, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The firm, of Eastern Way, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, which was also ordered to pay costs of £2,257, did not respond to requests for a comment.