Claire Walton — Qualified in 2002, now working in Food & Occupational Health for Allerdale Borough Council.
When Claire qualified in 2002, she was working in Environmental Protection. She has recently moved over to a role combining Food and Health & Safety, a dual role typical of smaller rural local authority employers.
“I recently got a call from a parent whose 13-year old daughter had choked on a large piece of glass in a Chicken Kiev bought from a well-known supermarket. The supplier to the supermarket was a very large and respected food manufacturer in Ireland, one which operates a ‘no-glass in the workplace’ policy and very high quality controls. The glass is being analysed and the case is still ongoing.”
“We’ll see what happens, but I often think about what could have happened to that poor girl had her dad not done the proper first aid manoeuvre to release the glass from her throat. Our job now is to determine where the glass came from and to take steps to prevent such an incident ever happening again.”