Lift truck crush accident

A building materials manufacturer was fined £8,000 after a court heard that a worker suffered a fractured pelvis when he was crushed between machinery and a reversing fork lift truck.

Sevenoaks Magistrates court heard the the 53 year old injured man was standing in a narrow aisle preparing to attach a wheeled container to the back of a lift truck so that the container could be towed to a waste collection area. As he attempted to attach the container his colleague reversed the lift truck too fast crushing him between the vehicle and a fixed piece of machinery. He suffered a fractured pelvis and leg in the accident and was unable to return to work for almost a year.

The court heard that the company had failed to carry out a suitable risk assessment for the removal of damaged bricks from the area. This would have shown that standing behind a reversing lift truck in a narrow aisle was inherently unsafe. In addition the court was told that the company failed to maintain the equipment used in the waste removing operation in a safe and proper fashion.

In mitigation it was stated that the company had now introduced a safe system of work for the process and had provided safety training for all its lift truck operators.

The company was fined £8,000 for a breach of section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act along with costs of £3,965