Coffee roaster Masteroast in Peterborough served with health and safety improvement notice
A leading employer in Peterborough has been served with an improvement notice by government health and safety officials.
Coffee roaster and importer Masteroast, based at Plantation House, in Newark Road, Fengate, was issued with the notice by the Health and Safety Executive on November 12 last year and was given until January 13 this year to comply.
The firm, which has about 130 staff, was found to be in breach of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2009 and Management of Health of Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Details released by the HSE state the company failed to ensure a ventilation system in the roasting and grinding areas had been thoroughly examined and tested in the last 14 months.
The system controls exposure of employees to coffee dust and diacetyl vapour, which it states are known causes of occupational asthma from inhalation.
The notice says the firm failed to arrange for the effective monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures and had not acted on the results of a health survey.
Masteroast has been approached for a response.
The family owned company celebrated the 40th anniversary of its founding four years ago.
The company produces about one in seven cups of roast and ground coffee that are consumed outside the home in the UK.
It produces more than 4,000 tonnes of coffee a year for major brands and coffee distributors. It is one of the biggest producers of Fairtrade coffee in the UK.
Six years ago, Masteroast invested in a £1.5 million expansion of its operations in Peterborough to provide a 2,500 pallet capacity logistics building in Fengate, to focus on the delivery of its online orders.