Two further cases in court both could have easily been avoided by proper planning and following Industry guidance. In both cases the Employer failed to meet their legal requirements under the Health and Safety at Work Act section 2, which provide responsibilities to their employees to keep them safe. Both Employees were seriously injured and the companies fined.
First Case – An engineering company has been fined after a worker lost his leg from the knee down after being hit by a forklift truck.
West Hampshire Magistrates’ Court was told how a Puma Engineering and Construction Limited employee was seriously injured whilst carrying out a lifting operation involving the transporting and loading of pipe spools onto a flatbed truck. A forklift truck he was acting as banksman for, drove into the back of his left heel. His left leg had to be amputated.
The HSE’s investigation into the incident, which occurred on 16 November 2016, found the company had failed to properly plan, organise and carry out the lifting operation in a safe manner.
Puma Engineering and Construction Limited of Westwood Business Park, Brunel Road, Southampton pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and has been fined £8,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £3,781.04
Proper planning required
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Andrew Johnson said: “All lifts must be properly planned, assessed and carried out in a safe manner.
“There were other safer, reasonably practicable options that the company could have taken to prevent the forklift coming into contact with the individual. The safest method in this instance was to use tag lines or push sticks to control the load, as opposed to controlling the load by hand.”
Second Case – 600kg bag falls on employee
A port company has been fined £666,000 for safety breaches after a bag of fertiliser fell and struck an employee.
Ipswich Magistrates’ Court was told how a 600kg flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC) bag of Ammonium Nitrate fell onto an employee as he was removing pallets from the front of a stack. He suffered multiple fractures, a dislocated ankle and knee and back injuries, and was unable to work for thirteen weeks.
The HSE’s investigation into the incident, which occurred on 16 May 2016, found that the company had failed to follow their own risk assessments, by stacking FIBC bags directly on top of one another, rather than in the recognised industry standard of stacking in a pyramid fashion. The company had also failed to review their stacking practice following earlier incidents of bag spills and stack collapses at their Ipswich and King’s Lynn docks.
Associated British Ports of Bedford Street, London, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and have been fined £666,000 with costs of £8,688.23.
Not Stacked correctly in accordance with industry guidance.
Speaking after the case HSE inspector Tania van Rixtel said: “This case highlights the importance of ensuring FIBC bags are stacked according to industry guidance.
“This incident could so easily have been avoided if the company had followed their own risk assessments and reviewed their systems following previous bag collapses.”
