A furniture manufacturer has been fined £100,000 after a delivery driver sustained serious leg injuries when he was struck by a reversing lorry.
A visiting contractor driver had arrived at the manufacturer’s premises, parked in position and pulled open the curtains of his lorry trailer for loading by an employee. Once loaded, the visiting driver was tightening the trailer straps to secure the load when another contractor vehicle drove onto the site. As the LGV/HGV vehicle was reversing into position, it struck the man, knocking him to the floor and trapping his legs under the wheels. He sustained fractures, leaving him with reduced mobility, psychological damage and unable to work again.
The company was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £18,618.28 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
During the HSE (Health and Safety Investigation) investigation, they found that controls in the yard were inadequate. There was no segregation between vehicles and pedestrians to prevent this type of incident occurring.
HSE Inspector Lindsay Bentley said: “The visiting contractor could have easily been killed. This serious incident could have been avoided if basic safe-guards had been in place to keep people and vehicles apart.”