Forklift Truck Accident Leads To Prosecution | Health & Safety

Forklift Truck Accident Leads to Prosecution

Key Facts:

• An HSE investigation was launched after an employee was dragged under a forklift truck’s rear wheel.
• The employee sustained serious injuries as a result of the accident. Several key safety failings were identified in the ensuing HSE investigation.
• The firm and its director were prosecuted, being ordered to pay over £16,000.

The Case:

An HSE investigation was launched into a Liverpool skip hire firm, and it’s director, after an employee was dragged under a forklift truck’s wheel.

The incident, which took place in April 2013, saw an employee struck by a forklift truck as it was reversing before being pulled under the rear wheel of the truck. He sustained serious, life changing injuries which included broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, a punctured lung, and severe crush injuries to his chest and leg. His spleen was also removed as a result of the accident.

The ensuing HSE investigation found that there was no adequate safe system of work in place on the site, nor a risk assessment that would have identified the necessity of keeping pedestrians and vehicles apart. The forklift truck involved in the incident did not have an audible siren or beacon to alert nearby workers that it was reversing. There were also no wing mirrors, and the rear window of the machine was dirty which further reduced the drivers ability to see. The vehicle had not been subjected to examination by a competent person within the last year, as required by the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.

The case was heard at South Sefton Magistrates’ Court in May 2015 where the firm pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £14,000, and ordered to pay costs of £1791.50 and a victim surcharge of £120.

The company’s director was also prosecuted after pleading guilty to breaching Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. She was fined £1,000, and ordered to pay costs of £387.50 and a victim surcharge of £120.

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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 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states:

“Where an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.”

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