A company has been fined £3,000 after a lift truck accident left an employee with a crushed hand.
The employee, Steven Tonner, was working for Alba Ltd, trading as Forteith Food Services, as a forklift driver. However, Mr Tonner had received no formal training to operate the machine.
On 4th January 2015 Mr Tonner placed his hand on the roll bar of the forklift whilst reversing, in a similar manner to putting a hand onto the passenger seat of a car when performing a similar manoeuvre. Mr Tonner then reversed, crashing into a lorry that was parked in the yard, crushing his hand. He suffered fractures to eight bones in his hand, with the possibility of amputation, and spent 12 hours in surgery to correct the damage.
During the court hearing, it was discovered that Mr Tonner did not receive any training from Alba Ltd. Furthermore, the operations manager at the site had been sent on an Instructor training course, which would have allowed him to train other employees how to operate lift trucks, however, no training was ever given to any additional employees.
Alba Ltd pleased guilty to failing to ensure an employee had received adequate training and was subsequently fined £3,000.
Source: The Press and Journal (www.pressandjournal.co.uk), Man has hand crushed in forklift truck accident, company fined £3,000, 10th November 2016. Read the full article.