Multiple breaches Health & Safety Act

An in-practice blunder resulted in Boots Opticians being prosecuted under the Health & Safety Act after a patient’s contact lenses were soaked by staff in the wrong solution.

The 50-year-old customer complained of terrible pain after being handed back the lenses while at Boots’ Colchester outlet. She was rushed to hospital, and a court heard that she could no longer wear contact lenses.

Boots admitted breaching the 1974 Act at Chelmsford Crown Court last week.
The court heard how contact lens wearer Annette Forrester was injured after a customer service adviser at Boots in Colchester put her lenses in an alkaline cleaning solution instead of a saline solution. Reportedly the adviser had had less than two hours’ training.