Employee run over by reversing fork lift truck

A 59 year-old office worker was run over by a fork lift truck even though fellow employees repeatedly warned her company about similar near misses before the accident. Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard how the lady was hit by the reversing vehicle at a food company's site in Droylsden, East Manchester in May 2005.

She suffered multiple fractures to her left leg and ankle, as well as severe soft tissue injuries to her groin, inner thigh and foot. She spent almost two months in hospital as a result. The accident happened as she walked across the warehouse to collect some paperwork from its office.
Prosecuting, Kevin Donnelly said that there were no measures to segregate pedestrians and traffic in the warehouse and no designated safe route for pedestrians to cross it. The court also heard that the company had received several complaints from staff about the danger to pedestrians in the warehouse from 2003 to 2005, but failed to take effective action.
Following the first complaints in 2003, managers drew up a document designating the warehouse a non-pedestrian zone and recommending an alternative safe route. However, it was never enforced and no disciplinary action was taken against employees for walking through the warehouse. Management reacted to further complaints in 2004 by installing signs warning workers about the dangers of moving fork lift trucks and stating that only authorised employees could walk across the warehouse. However, Donnelly said the signs were ‘ambiguous and ineffective’, and workers were never told who was authorised and who was not.
The company, which pleaded guilty, said in mitigation that it now strictly enforces a no-pedestrian zone in the warehouse. It was fined £60,000 under Regulation 17(1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and Regulation 3 of the MHSWR 1999. It was also ordered to pay £5,724 in costs.