Worker suffered serious injuries when a crate fell on him

A transport company firm has been fined for safety failings after a worker suffered serious injuries when a crate fell on him whilst he was unloading crates from a container.

Ipswich Magistrates’ Court heard how on April 2013 an employee of Portmans Transport Limited of Felixstowe was assisting to unload two containers which contained two tonne crates of glass mirrors. The second container had no fork pockets or lighting, so the worker had to closely guide the fork lift truck operator to ensure the forks were in position

Some of the crates were jammed in place and as the fork lift truck operator attempted to dislodge them, one of the crates toppled onto the worker, pinning him to the side of the container. The incident has left him with life changing injuries and he will be unable to work for at least three years.

Portmans Transport Limited, of Bryon Avenue, Felixstowe, was fined a total of £9,000, and ordered to pay £917 in costs after pleading guilty to an offence under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Corinne Godfrey said:

“This worker was employed by the company for less than three weeks as a Warehouse Foreman, and although he had previous job experience which involved the maintenance and repair of containers, he had never been involved with this type of unloading work known as ‘devanning’.

This incident was inevitable, neither worker had seen the procedures manual or any risk assessments/method statements relating to the unloading of containers.

The company failed to plan what should happen when it was identified that loads were not able to be readily offloaded by forklift truck.

It’s essential that before any work tasks are carried out, the relevant risks should be identified and appropriate control measures put in place to protect against them

Lorry Driver Killed in Reversing Vehicle Crushing Accident

A Romsey firm in the UK was fined £65,000 for a health and safety breech after an accident in which a lorry driver was crushed to death.

Adam Millichip, 27, was delivering sheet metal to the Wessex Lift Company in Budds Lane when he was crushed after walking into the gap between his vehicle and a fork-lift truck that was unloading it, Winchester Crown Court heard.

The prosecution said Wessex Lifts had not done a risk assessment of its roadside fork-lift truck unloading procedure and did not have a written unloading procedure for roadside operations.

The firm admitted guilt on the basis that these failures played a part in the accident, but were not a significant cause of Mr Millichip’s death.

The company was also ordered by judge, Recorder Christopher Parker, QC, to pay £60,000 costs.

Quentin Hunt, prosecuting, said Mr Millichip, from Tenbury Wells, who worked for Worcester-based David Curnock Ltd, decided to unload on the roadside rather than reverse his articulated lorry into the loading bay, which had become an increasingly frequent practice.

The court heard how, on November 16, 2007, fork-lift truck driver Michael Hett was unloading a pallet and as he reversed, took his foot off the accelerator and the forklift rolled forwards on the uneven road surface.

In panic, Mr Hett attempted to brake, but pressed the accelerator instead and the fork-lift went forwards into Mr Millichip.

Mr Hunt said Mr Hett and Mr Millichip’s actions were contributory factors.

Wessex Lift Company Ltd pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to discharge its duty under Section Three of the Health and Safety Act 1974 by failing to ensure that people not in their employment were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.

Mark Balysz, mitigating, said the company had robust safety measures and that even if the failures had been remedied, the accident could still have happened.

He said it had deeply affected the factory’s 70 staff, and all fork-lift drivers were trained.

Mr Balysz added that the roadside was not that different from the loading bay, where a risk assessment had been carried out.

Mr Millichip’s family said that their lives had been on hold since the accident and that they wanted to make sure this sort of thing never happened again. His mother, Sue, said: “We feel we got justice for Adam. Nothing’s going to bring him back and it won’t ease our pain.”

She added that the accident had “shattered so many lives”, including that of Adam’s nine-year-old son, Luke.

Collier Industrial Waste Ltd, Forklift Accident - HSE Prosecution

An industrial waste company based in Trafford, has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after a worker suffered serious injuries in a forklift truck accident.

The sixty year old worker from Wirral was working for Collier Industrial Waste Ltd, at their plant on Nash Road, in Trafford Park, when he was struck by the reversing 35 tonne vehicle.

The employee, who has not been named, suffered life threatening injuries in the accident including multiple bone fractures and internal injuries, which left him hospitalised for several months.

An investigation by the HSE revealed that the company did not have adequate safety provisions in place, to protect employees from on-site vehicles.

Collier Industrial Waste Ltd, of Nash Road, Trafford Park, in Manchester, was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay court costs totalling £9,410, after admitting a breach of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations, at Trafford Magistrates’ Court in Sale.

Speaking after the court hearing the prosecuting HSE inspector stated that the accident could have easily been prevented, had the company put in place simple and inexpensive safety systems to ensure workers were not at risk from moving vehicles.

Firm fined £150,000 for serious HGV reversing injury

2 August 2011. A parcel delivery company has been fined £150,000 after an employee was seriously injured by a heavy goods vehicle, in an accident at work. Twenty two year old Simon Mason, of Romford, in Essex, was working at the Tufnells Parcels Express, warehouse in West Horndon near Brentwood, when a reversing articulated HGV, crushed his skull against a loading bay wall.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive revealed that Mr. Mason was working the nightshift at the warehouse and was preparing to unload the vehicle as it reversed into a loading bay.

When the trailer stopped moving the warehouse porter noticed it needed to be straightened up but as he leaned behind the trailer to shout instructions to the driver it continued reversing crushing the man’s skull. Mr. Mason suffered a serious head injury in the accident which required months of care and several operations, he has since returned to work but still suffers the long term ill affects if his injuries.

Tufnells Parcels Express Ltd, whose head office is located at Shepcote Lane, in Sheffield, was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay costs totalling £19,000 after admitting a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act, at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Last year alone 530 workers suffered serious personal injury and 17 lost their lives after being involved with a moving vehicle in an accident at work.