Pret a Manger fined over London worker stuck in freezer

Pret A Manger has been fined £800,000 after a worker was stuck in a walk-in freezer for two and a half hours.

The employee, wearing only jeans and a T-shirt, tried to keep warm by moving around but feared for her life and was treated for suspected hypothermia.

After the incident in London in 2021, it was found there had been no suitable risk assessment.

The chain pleaded guilty to a health and safety offence at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Westminster City Council, which investigated the incident, said the worker became trapped in the freezer, which typically had its temperature set at -18C, at the chain's Victoria coach station shop on 29 July that year.

She was eventually found in a state of distress by a colleague.

While in the freezer, she found her breathing was becoming restricted and she began to lose sensation in her thighs and feet.

At one point, she tried to tear up a cardboard box to use as cover from the ventilator blowing out cold air, but her hands were too cold to break it.

An investigation found there was no suitable risk assessment for employees working in temperature-controlled environments.

Pret's reporting system revealed there had been several call-outs relating to defective or frozen push buttons in the previous 19 months.

On one occasion at the same remote kitchen, a worker became stuck in the walk-in freezer after being unable to open the door from the inside. In that incident in January 2020, the internal door release mechanism was not working.

Westminster City Council's deputy leader and cabinet member for communities, public protection and licensing, Aicha Less, said: "Overlooking basic safety measures can have the most serious consequences.

"We hope the significant fine awarded in court acts to all businesses as a warning."

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."