A 26-YEAR-OLD Nelson woman who was forced to give up bar work after badly burning her hands in an accident at work has been awarded £4,700 in compensation.

Catherine Ibbetson, of Nelson, was cleaning machinery at Woodhead Bros Meat Company in Colne, when the incident occurred.

She was cleaning a processing machine when she submerged her hands into a bucket of hot water to retrieve a cloth. The boiling water ran over the top of her gloves, burning her badly and causing the skin to peel off her hand.

She sustained burns to her wrist, hand and fingers and has been left with permanent scarring.

Ms Ibbetson, who worked in a local pub at the time, said: "I had only been at Woodheads for two weeks and had not been asked to clean my machine down before. I presumed the gloves would protect me from the hot water."

Paul Hatfield, legal executive from the Leeds office of the national law firm Irwin Mitchell, who represented Ms Ibbetson, added: "This was a nasty accident that could easily have been avoided if suitable gloves had been provided."