Lift Truck Accidents in 2002 : Thomas Truck Training Ltd : Tel 01832 731261

Crown court fines company £40,000 over forklift truck accident
Brian Smith, 47, was working at a power press at his employers, Medway Ltd of Smethwick, last December when he was struck by a falling metal coil being transported by a forklift truck. He sustained serious leg injuries requiring extensive surgery to reconstruct the limb. Subsequent investigation revealed the forklift operator was inadequately trained and that Mr Smith was deprived of the application of immediate first aid as the company had no qualified person.
Medway pleaded guilty in July at West Bromwich Magistrates Court to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
At Wolverhampton Crown Court this week Medway Ltd was fined £40,000 with £5,780 costs, Judge Hodgson commenting that "the driver of the forklift truck received totally inadequate training. It was an accident waiting to happen."
http://www.safetynews.co.uk/archivenews.htm
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article 01/09/03

Forklift broke woman's leg
John Dale Ltd, paper manufacturer of Castle Park, Flint, has been fined £8,000 with £750 costs for breaching health and safety legislation in the circumstances of an accident in which employee Caroline Carter, 20, was struck by a forklift truck, sustaining a broken leg.
Ms Carter was struck as she approached a doorway, the accident being attributed in part to the plastic curtain material suspended there having become opaque through lack of maintenance and replacement, preventing the operator being aware of her presence.
Failure lay principally in the lack of separation between vehicles and personnel on foot.
http://www.safetynews.co.uk/archivenews.htm
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article 01/09/03

Details for Case No. F090002596
H E S Sales (UK) Ltd on 07/05/2002
Summary Small yard at this company with 1 in 10 slope .Loading and unloading done by custom and practice at top of yard but turning on slope necessary. No one prepared to state capability of Daewoo FLT . One pothole in yard . Also drainage dip near entry to roller shutter door which Co may be able to make flat with landlord co-operation No H&S manager at Co
Compliance Date09/07/2002
Total Fine£3,000.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE£1,346.00
Location of Offence Address Royal Oak Ind Estate14 Bentley Way DAVENTRY Northants NN11 5PH England
Region MIDLANDS
Local AuthorityDaventry
HSE Group Multi Group N'ton 2
Industry Manufacture of lifting and handling equipment
© Copyright Health & Safety Executive 2000. All information is provisional and may be subject to revision.

No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article

Man jailed for forklift rampage
York

A man who left a "trail of destruction" as he drove through a city's streets in a forklift truck has been jailed for six years. Ray Wilson, 22, had pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, criminal damage and recklessly endangering the lives of 14 people.

He had hot-wired the vehicle in York city centre on 26 August 2002 intending to drive it to his mother's home in Liverpool, York Crown Court heard. Wilson, of no fixed address, led police on an eight-mile chase until officers managed to stop him by driving a car into the side of the forklift. Six people, including three police officers, were injured, and a police van and six cars were damaged during the 30-minute pursuit.
Evasive action
The court heard Wilson began his rampage in York's Skeldergate where he "deliberately and intentionally" rammed the forks of his truck into a police van. He then set off through the city centre in the vehicle, which has a top speed of 25mph, often driving on the wrong side of the road and forcing motorists to take evasive action. He made his way on to the A64 where he collided with more vehicles on a roundabout. He was only stopped when a police Land Cruiser pulled up along side and an officer smashed the forklift truck's window with his baton. Wilson later told officers he intended to visit his mother on Merseyside and had learnt to drive the £25,000 vehicle from an instruction manual he obtained in a library.
The court was told Wilson suffered from a personality disorder.
The Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, said he had some sympathy for his problems, but said: "You are a dangerous young man."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/2996503.stm
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Company fined over unsafe lifting work
A materials testing company was fined a total of £21,000 after a court heard how a worker was fortunate not to be crushed to death during an unsafe lifting operation.

Prosecuting Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Michael Bone told Gosforth Magistrates' Court that a 49-year-old engineer was working at the company's laboratory in Newcastle when the incident happened on 14 June 2002.

The court heard that the injured person and two colleagues were using a fork-lift truck to unload thermal testing machines from a lorry. During the work, the worker stood on the back of the lorry to tilt one of the 1.5 tonne machines so that the lift truck's forks could be positioned underneath it.

However, while he was doing this, the testing machine toppled over, knocking him off the lorry and landing on the ground next to him. Although he suffered a fractured arm and bruised ribs as a result of the accident, Bone said that he would probably have been killed if the machine had landed on top of him.

The court heard that the accident happened because the company failed to carry out an adequate risk assessment covering the unloading of the machines. Bone said that this would have identified that the injured person and his colleagues required training on the best way to unload heavy objects safely. This would have made them aware that it was unsafe to tilt the machines during unloading which should have been carried out using a larger lift truck
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article

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