Pret A Manger has been hit with an £800,000 fine after a worker became stuck in a walk-in freezer in July 2021.
The staff member was found after two and a half hours by one of her coworkers at the Victoria coach station shop.
The employee had to receive treatment for hypothermia after becoming stuck in the freezer, which was kept at -18C.
The staff member was wearing a T-shirt and jeans when the incident occurred, Westminster magistrates court heard, and tried to use croissant boxes and move around to stay warm.
Although she attempted to tear up a cardboard box to prevent hypothermia, her hands were too cold to do so.
When found by her colleague, she was reportedly struggling to breathe, in a state of distress and had numb feet and legs.
After the incident, an inquiry found there was no suitable risk assessment for staff working in temperature-controlled environments at the sandwich chain.
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Information from the retailer’s reporting system found there had been several call-outs over the past 19 months linked to issues with frozen or broken push buttons.
During January 2020, an employee at the same kitchen became stuck in the walk-in freezer when they couldn’t open the door from the inside due to the internal door release mechanism not working.
Following an investigation by Westminster council’s health and safety team, the company pleaded guilty to an offence contradicting the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
A Pret A Manger spokesperson said: “We are incredibly sorry for our colleague’s experience and understand how distressing this must have been.
“We have carried out a full review and have worked with the manufacturer to develop a solution to stop this from happening again.”
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