Health and Safety Failings – Forklift safety failings met with £7,000 fine.

Forklift safety failings met with £7,000 fine

Key Facts:

• Failure to secure a load to a forklift truck left an agency worker with multiple leg injuries.
• Unsecured A-frame weighing almost half a tonne fell on his leg.
• Company had been warned about forklift safety failings after a similar incident in 2007.
• Company fined £7,000.

The Case:

The HSE launched an investigation following an incident at a metal galvanising company on 20 November 2013. A 19 year old agency worker suffered serious leg injuries after an unsecured forklift load fell on his leg.

An A-frame, weighing in at almost half a tonne, was being lifted and moved outside by the forks of a forklift truck in the rain. The agency worker was helping colleagues steady the frame, which had not been secured to the forks when the load began to slip. Despite repeated warnings from the forklift driver and other colleagues, the worker continued trying to steady the frame. It continued to slip, and fell onto his legs.

The forklift incident left him with bruised bones, trapped nerves, muscle damage, tissue damage, severe swelling and external bruising. As a result, he was unable to return to work for several months and his mobility was impaired. He has now made a full recovery.

The HSE investigation identified several key safety failings:

• The company did not have a safe system of work in place for the task
• A procedure for safe work had been developed after a similar incident in 2007, but it was not implemented.
• The HSE had advised the company in 2007 that additional securing arrangements should be in place when lifting and moving unstable loads, but this had not been adhered to.
• Further advice to use tag lines rather than direct contact in such instances had also failed to be implemented.

The case was heard at Forfar Sheriff Court on 12 March 2015. The company pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and were fined £7,000.

What the HSE inspector had to say:

Speaking after the hearing the HSE Inspector Niall Miller stated that:

“Forfar Galvanisers Ltd’s failure to act to make sure its employees and agency workers were adequately protected during such movement operations, has led to serious injuries for Mr Ramsey, which could have been so easily prevented.

The issues with unsecured loads on forklift trucks are well-known in all relevant industries.  It was entirely foreseeable that loads which are unsecured will become unstable when they are moved and that metal will become slippery if wet, especially when placed on another wet metal object.

Around a quarter of all workplace transport incidents involve forklift trucks, with 50 per cent of these happening because someone is hit either by the vehicle or a falling load.

It was clear there was a risk of death or serious injury if the A-frame fell from the forklift truck, particularly as the company was aware of previous incidents of loads falling. Had the company acted on this and the advice of HSE, Mr Ramsey would not have been injured.”

What the law states:

Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states:

“It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.”

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