Health and Safety Failings – Transport firm fined after worker crushed between lorries

Transport firm fined after worker crushed between lorries

Key Facts:

• The HSE have prosecuted a transport firm for health and safety failings.
• A 38-year-old worker suffered life changing injuries after being crushed between two lorries.
• The firm was fined £500,000 as well as costs of £56,938.

The Case:

The HSE launched an investigation after a worker was crushed between two lorries at a transport company on 9 April 2013.

The employee was acting as a banksman, helping a lorry driver reverse park on a slope. The driver decoupled his trailer without engaging the parking brake which caused it to roll back and trap her between the two vehicles.

The 38-year-old worker broke 13 bones in her back, shoulders and ribs, and punctured a lung. She suffered severe head injuries, impaired vision and required a tracheotomy. The employee also suffered a cardiac arrest, and was kept in intensive care for ten days. She had to wear a body brace for four months, and was confined to a wheelchair. She has since regained some mobility, but still requires weekly physiotherapy. The investigating HSE officer said she was ‘lucky to be alive’.

Transport safety failings were identified, as the company frequently allowed vehicles to park on such slopes, without implemented chocks or similar devices. There were no monitoring procedures in place to ensure drivers were applying their handbrakes properly. The slope where the transport firm’s lorries were parking ended on a public road, so the dangers extended to passing pedestrians and drivers as well as those on site.

The case was heard on 16 March 2015 at Warwick Crown Court, where the transport firm pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £500,000 as well as costs of £56,938.

What the HSE inspector had to say:

Speaking after the hearing the HSE Inspector Elizabeth Hornsby stated that:

“Mrs Rose suffered severe life-changing injuries. Her family was told she would not survive the night but due to her level of physical fitness and her sheer determination she has fought back and is now on the road to recovery.

It was common practice for drivers to park on a slope within the compound, which should never have been allowed as it was inevitable that sooner or later a driver would fail to put on their handbrake. This totally avoidable incident could and should have been prevented with nothing more than common sense.”

What the law states:

Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states:

It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.

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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