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UPDATE Fatally injured worker used truck's forks to gain access
A fish processing company worker used a patently unsafe method
of work to tend to large bags of fishmeal at his employer's
premises. In December 2001 David Cobban accessed the stored
product using the raised forks of a forklift truck from which he
fell through four metres, sustaining fatal head injuries. Mr
Cobban's employer, United Fish of Aberdeen, admitted and was
prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act
1974 and was fined £16,000 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, failing to
provide a safe system of work for Mr Cobban. HSE's John
Radcliffe commented that the "biggest cause of serious and fatal
accidents in industry is from working from height and transport
in the workplace, the two most common factors of serious and
fatal incidents which were present in this case." Forfab, based
in Rothes, Moray, the forklift truck driver provider, was fined
£4,000 in respect of failing to provide adequate training.
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Forklift truck fatal accident
It is reported that Robert Mann, 59, has sustained fatal
injuries in a workplace accident involving a forklift truck at a
Welshpool, Dyfed-Powys, scrapyard. Mr Mann was taken to hospital
but succumbed to his injuries there.
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Fine
for company after driver sustained terrible injuries
A lorry driver,
Anthony Sadler, making a delivery in June last year to the premises of
Ian Smith (Stationers) Ltd sustained crush injuries when he was struck
by an inadequately trained forklift truck driver. Mr Sadler now must
live with considerable disability as a consequence of that preventable
accident.
The forklift driver was only operating the truck because a director, in
the absence of a manger, instructed him to use it believing him to be
competent, however he was unfamiliar with that type of truck, his
training some years earlier being on another type.
Adhering to safety
procedures
At Chelmsford
Court the company admitted the breach and was fined £20,000 with £3,330
costs for failing to meet minimum standards in respect of health and
safety in the circumstances of the accident, failing to ensure the
safety of persons not in its employment.
Since the accident the company has acted to tighten its procedures,
expressing great regret over Mr Sadler's loss.
HSE's Paul Downer, speaking of the suffering for all affected by
forklift accidents, said: "We cannot stress enough the
importance of adhering to safety procedures."
http://www.safetynews.co.uk/archivenews.htm
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article
01/09/03 |
Teenage victims of forklift peril
Evidence that dangerous machines and teenage workers do not mix
have been demonstrated in three separate safety prosecutions this
month. In February 2003, Timothy Whitton, aged 19 and his brother
Stephen Whitton, aged 18, climbed on forklift at London firm Premier
Storage. The brothers, who were employed at a neighbouring firm,
suffered serious injuries when the forklift, driver by Premier
employee Lee Smith, overturned. Timothy Whitton suffered a broken
back, a broken right femur and dislocations to several of his toes,
three of which were subsequently amputated. Stephen Whitton suffered
a broken neck and smashed vertebrae. Lee Smith was fined £1,000
after a hearing this month at Croydon Crown Court. In a second case,
teenage security guard Travers Clarke was fined £260 at Leeds
Magistrates' Court after a delivery driver was injured in a March
2005 incident. Mr Clarke, then aged 19, agreed to use a forklift to
unload from a lorry a consignment of cardboard used to make printed
packaging. A pallet fell from the forks onto the 63-year-old
delivery driver, fracturing his pelvis, foot and ribs, and causing
spinal injuries. Mr Clarke had received no training and had been
instructed by both the company whose site he was guarding and his
employer, White Knight Security, not to use any work equipment on
site. HSE Inspector Kathryn Wells, who carried out the investigation
said: 'This case demonstrates all too clearly what can happen when
an inexperienced and untrained driver gets behind the wheel of a
forklift truck.' Teenager Anthony Gary Halpin was both the forklift
driver and the victim of a related accident. David James Prosser,
Director of DJP Poultry Handling Services Ltd, was fined £2,000 and
told to pay costs of £1,555 at Ludlow Magistrates' Court following
an incident in which the 17-year-old suffered fractures to his arm,
wrist and hand when they became trapped in the forklift. Speaking
after the case HSE investigating inspector Janice Dale said: 'The
forklift truck was being operated by an untrained, unsupervised,
17-year-old driver. He had been employed by the company as a poultry
handler and it was part of his job to drive forklift trucks although
he had not attended any formal, approved training course. If he had,
this incident could have been avoided.'
http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-12447-f0.cfm |
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Firm fined over death
of worker
A farming company has been fined
£20,000 following the death of a 20-year-old female worker from
Eastern Europe in a forklift truck accident.
E.W. Pepper Ltd, of Wyndmere, Steeple Morden, Royston,
Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty during a hearing at Stevenage
Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. 8th Dec 2004
The accident happened at Bury Farm, in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire.
The Health and Safety Executive case related to the firm's failure
to use trained staff to drive forklift trucks.
The company was also criticised for failure to control access to
forklift trucks.
We know forklift trucks can
be dangerous and recently we have seen several
serious accidents with them
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The breach of health and safety law was brought to the HSE's
attention when Hungarian employee Ezther Nagy, 20, died from
injuries sustained when a forklift truck, on which she was riding,
overturned on 17 July 2002. A subsequent investigation found the
company had poor control over access to its forklift trucks, with
particularly poor control over access to ignition keys. HSE
inspector David Head said he hoped this prosecution would send a
message out to all employees to prevent this type of accident
happening again. "We know forklift trucks can be dangerous and
recently we have seen several serious accidents with them," he said.
'Tragic consequences'
"It is very important that firms make sure only trained and
authorised staff drive them.
"Failure to do this can lead to tragic consequences, as with this
case where a young woman sadly lost her life.
"Whenever something like this happens it hits a lot of people."
In court the firm was also ordered to pay £11,500 in costs.
On Wednesday evening a spokesman for E.W. Pepper Ltd said it had
no comment to make relating to the case.
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article
(12/12/04) |
Deadline December 5th
2002
All mobile plant equipment such as fork lift trucks, dumpers and
tractors which have been provided for use before 5th December 1998 must
be brought into compliance with part 111 of the Provision and Use of
Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER 98) by 5th December 2002. In
real terms this has a major impact on Employers, the self employed or
anyone in control 'to any extent' of mobile work equipment. It means
that all relevant parties must ensure that their equipment is safe to
use by preventing or controlling risks. This is not a completely new
concept as the requirement of the regulations has been in effect for new
equipment since the 5th December 1998. The are many risks involved in
the use of mobile work equipment. But some of the most common risks are,
being struck by the vehicle, the equipment tipping or rolling over, the
operator of the equipment falling from the vehicle, the operator being
struck by falling objects, unauthorised operation and use of the vehicle
by untrained persons, braking systems not being maintained to correct
and safe standards and bad or restricted driver visibility. PUWER 98
addresses these risks in part 111 by insisting that employers now take
adequate measures to ensure that all work equipment in particular plant
equipment is safe to use. There are many ways in which this can be
achieved but one of the main areas to be addressed is: The fitting of
restraining systems (seat belts, lap belts, etc) - PUWER 98 states
under regulation 27 the requirement for 'provision of restraining
systems to prevent crushing of the operator between the truck and the
ground where there is a foreseeable risk of overturning' Due to the
nature of a lift truck, all situations during use could constitute a
risk of overturning therefore all Forklift trucks must be fitted with
restraining devices of some kind by 5th December 2002 (further
information on Fitting and use of restraining systems on lift trucks can
be obtained by calling Us on 01536 517889 or in the HSE information
sheet MISC241) It is a fact that unsafe work equipment is a
major factor in a very large percentage of deaths and injuries every
year. The statistics for 2001 alone show that three people were killed
and 67 were seriously injured when they were struck by Industrial Lift
Trucks. The changes in the regulations are evidence of the commitment of
the Health and Safety Executive, to address this worryingly high amount
of incident and injury
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To Find more articles
on seat restraint then please CLICK HERE
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FATALITY
DUE TO FALL FROM FORK LIFT
TRUCK
An
employee of Tingdene Homes of Wellingborough died as the result of being
crushed after falling from the forklift truck he was driving. As a
result of the accident he had to have a leg amputated and he
subsequently died from a blood clot. The court heard that the truck had
been travelling over uneven ground and that the steering was faulty.
Tingdene Homes were ordered to a fine and costs totaling £15,000.
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Fines
and worse
Carrington
Wire Ltd have been fined £15,000 because an employee received serious
injuries to both legs after coming into contact with a fork lift truck
on the company’s premises in Warrington. Modifications to the truck to
enable it to carry coils of wire had reduced the driver’s visibility
when driving the truck forwards.
Continental
Coffee Industries, based in Dunstable, was recently fined £8,000 with
£6,000 costs after a fatal incident involving a fork lift truck at
their premises. The driver of the truck, who was killed, was not
licensed to drive the vehicle and should not have been doing so. It was
against the company’s safety policy but it was admitted that the
company had not taken sufficiently stringent steps to ensure that
untrained and unlicensed
personnel
did not operate such machinery. The court accepted that, in this case,
the company’s level of culpability was low hence the comparatively low
fine for a case involving a fatality.
A farmer
from Shropshire has been sentenced to fifteen months in prison after a
16 year old worker was killed when a telescope materials handler
overturned. According to the prosecution, the youth in question not
received any training in the use of the vehicle. Although both a
placement officer from the local agricultural college and an HSE
inspector had specifically told the employer that the youngster must not
be allowed to operate the machinery until trained, he had been allowed
to drive the vehicle quite often.
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United
Engineering Forgings Ltd of Bromsgrove
was fined a total of £30,000 after one of its workers was struck on the
head and killed by a steel fork, which had snapped off a forklift being
used as a crane. The Court heard how engineer Calvin Hughes died
instantly after being struck by the 37kg fork, which fell on him from a
height of 7 feet. The truck was being used as a crane - a rope having
been looped over 1 fork to lift a piece of metal. As this was happening
the other fork caught under a piece of equipment, causing it to snap.
The investigation by the HSE discovered a pre-existing metal fatigue
crack in the fork. The company was also had full costs of £32,481.
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A man has been airlifted to hospital with serious
injuries after he was trapped under a fork-lift truck. 1/0/03
The man was crushed under the vehicle as he worked in
a field at Peaks Down near the M4 in Wiltshire.
He is believed to have suffered pelvic injuries and
two fractured femurs.
He was freed by fire crews using two vehicle winches,
electrical hand tools and hand saws before being taken to hospital by
air ambulance.
A spokeswoman for Wiltshire Police said:¿ A man
employed by a construction firm in Burbage was working in a field at The
Gallops, north of Baydon became trapped under a fork lift truck.
"The man, who is from the Everleigh area of
Wiltshire, suffered serious injuries and had to be freed by firefighters
before being airlifted to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon."
She said the police were not involved, but that the Health and Safety
Executive had been informed and would conduct an investigation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk
( Link no longer available 27/02/07)
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A Midland Company Hyperama,
incurred an fine of £12,000 after a worker had his leg broken when he
was in collision with a fork-lift truck being driven by a workmate who
had not received adequate training on the vehicle. The truck in question
was of the ride-on pallet truck type.
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Agriculture - From experience
 Safety
through training and maintenance
Summary
A 44 years old lorry driver had to have both legs amputated
following an accident at a farm he visited to collect a load of
field beans. An employee at the farm had loaded some beans into
the bucket of a telescopic handler to transport them to the
waiting lorry. The bucket was overloaded and as it was
raised the telehandler fell forward, trapping the lorry driver
underneath the bucket. He was rescued and taken to hospital by
air ambulance, but had to have both legs amputated - one above
the knee and the other below.
Summary
A 44 years old lorry driver had to have both legs amputated
following an accident at a farm he visited to collect a load of
field beans. An employee at the farm had loaded some beans into
the bucket of a telescopic handler to transport them to the
waiting lorry. The bucket was overloaded and as it was
raised the telehandler fell forward, trapping the lorry driver
underneath the bucket. He was rescued and taken to hospital by
air ambulance, but had to have both legs amputated - one above
the knee and the other below.
Action
The investigation found that:
• the telehandler's Safe Working Load Indicator (SWLI) which
would have warned the driver that it was trying to move too
heavy a load was defective;
• the load chart in the cab was worn and extension markers on
the boom of the telehandler were missing;
• the farm employee had not been trained in the safe use of the
telehandler and had not seen or been shown the user manual or
any written instructions.
The farm owner was prosecuted under the Health and Safety at
Work etc. Act 1974 for failing to ensure the health and
safety of both the lorry driver any his own employees, and the
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 for the
lack of adequate training. He was fined a total of £20,000 plus
costs of £1891.
Advice
This tragedy shows the importance of preventive maintenance
in avoiding injuries. A proper maintenance system would have
identified the defective SWLI and obscured safety information.
As well as making the machine safe, driver training is a
critical component of a safe system. With the right information
and training, the driver would have known the capacity of his
machine and that the safety device didn't work. Two simple
mistakes that cost a man his legs - could it happen to you?
http://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/experience/02.htm
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article
Updated 13.01.04
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FALL
FROM HEIGHT RESULTS IN FRACTURED SKULL
On this occasion a Business Manager was seriously injured when he fell
from the cage seen here. The accident happened on April 26th 2000. He
sustained a fractured skull and suffered several fractured ribs. The
injured party was  attempting
to unplug a component cleaning machine from an overhead power socket by
standing inside the cage which was resting on the forks of the lift
truck. The wire cage suddenly tipped over causing him to fall 3 meters
to the ground. Newcastle Crown Court heard that at the time of the
accident it was common practice for employees to be raised up in cages
on the forks of a lift truck.
The company pleaded
guilty to a breach of section 2 (1) of the Health and safety at Work Act
and was fined £15,000 along with the full prosecution costs of £2711.75.
The company have since reviewed their procedures for working at heights
and provided hoist trucks to allow the job to be done safely in future.
The company was
fined £3000 under section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act
together with a further £1000 for a breach of Construction and Loler
Regulations and ordered to pay the full prosecution costs of £1000.
Source: Safety
Management Magazine, published by the British Safety Council
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for the accuracy of this article |
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