FLT Instructor fined £500!

No we are not gloating over this one but it shows just how careful Instructors need to be when conducting a training course with potentially dangerous machinery.

The Instructor concerned - whose name and company shall remain anonymous - was conducting a course in Yate, Gloucester in January 2000 for 14 members of staff with the remit to show them how to escape safely from the elevated cab of a cherry picker type truck. As you may know this involves putting on a safety harness and abseiling from the elevated cab and is something that should be routinely taught to operators of such vehicles.

Following a demonstration by the Instructor a trainee tried the same thing but the supporting rope broke and he crashed 10 meters onto the concrete floor below shattering his pelvis and sustaining severe leg injuries. The court heard that the rope rubbed against a sharp piece of metal on the cab of the truck which cut through it. Ironically the trainees pointed out the sharp edge to the Instructor but he insisted that it was safe to carry on!

The Instructor was fined £500 under section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work act along with £300 costs.