A gran forced to wash her hands nearly 20 times a day for work has won £50,000 in damages after developing a chronic skin condition.
Susan Robinson, 59, was left with blistered and bleeding hands after her desperate pleas for better hand protection were ignored by her employer.
Robinson worked at Speedibake, a factory in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, that makes muffins, cupcakes, and other baked goods for big supermarket chains.
She worked on a line that produced hundreds of thousands of frozen mince pies for Christmas.
Within six months Robinson noticed her hands were becoming red and itchy as a result of being asked to wash them 17 times a day, according to SWNS news agency.
A test by Pontefract Hospital confirmed that she had contracted dermatitis - a type of eczema caused by chemical exposure to the skin.
She persistently asked for hand protection, and offered multiple suggestions herself. These included barrier creams and thinner gloves.
But her employers failed to deal with the matter properly or consistently due to fears of contaminating the food being baked.
Robinson said: "My hands were incredibly painful and sore. I had a particularly bad flareup and that's when I knew I had to take it further."
In desperation, she turned to her union, the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union (BFAWU), as well as Thompsons Solicitors.
Both organisations helped her win £50,000 in compensation.
Robinson added: "My solicitor was so supportive. If the process ever got me down, she was the person I knew I could talk to. She kept me going."
In February last year, an unexpected turn of events saw the Speedibake factory in Wakefield close down due to a fire.
Most staff were transferred to Speedibake's Bradford factory, but Robinson was made redundant.
She had hoped she would get a position at the Bradford branch, but her application was not successful due to the state of her hands and her claim against the company.
Sarah Woolley, from the BFAWU, said: "Sadly, cases like Susan's are not uncommon and profit overrode a worker's health.
"Speedibake should be ashamed of itself for failing to deal with a terrible situation for Susan that had been repeatedly confirmed was caused by her work.
"We were proud to support the claim and ensured she got the maximum compensation owed to her and held Speedibake to account for its significant failings."
Susan's solicitor Clare Timmins, of Thompsons, added: "Of course, it's imperative that high hygiene standards are maintained, but it should never be at the cost of an employee's health.
"Speedibake could have, and should have, responded to this by taking Susan off the line as soon as she began to report symptoms and given her other duties until they could support her safe return to the line.
"However, because she was a good worker, they kept her working even though they knew it could be harming her.
"This is yet another example of how employers who cut corners can really endanger the health and well-being of their employees."
A Speedibake spokesperson said: "As food producers we have strict hygiene standards that we have to maintain, which presented challenges in this particular case due to the essential hand cleansing and sanitising products that our employees need to use.
"Following the devastating fire that destroyed our Wakefield bakery in February 2020, we were faced with the difficult decision of how to allocate a very limited number of roles in our Bradford bakery. While we regret the outcome of this situation, given the circumstances, we believe we acted responsibly and in good faith at all times.”
