A food production company has been fined £600,000 after an employee was seriously injured after being struck by a Counterbalance (Forklift) truck.
Back in 2017, a worker of a contractor was walking along the internal roadway at the back yard end of the site and was struck from beind by the lift truck and trapped beneath the metal container it was carrying. He was dragged along the ground and received multiple serious and life-changing injuries, including the loss of a leg.
The company was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay costs of £38,183 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 4 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.
During the HSE (Health and Safety Investigation) investigation, they found that the company’s workplace transport risk assessment did not ensure that suitable and sufficient traffic management arrangements, including pedestrian and vehicle segregation, were in place. HSE Inspector Rhys Hughes, said: “This was a tragic and wholly avoidable incident, caused by the failure of the host company to undertake and implement an adequate risk assessment and ensure a safe system of work was in place. This risk was further amplified by the company’s failure to implement a number of simple safety measures including separation and segregation of vehicles and pedestrians.“