Author Bio ▼

Barbour EHS is an online subscription service providing access to essential legislation, guidance and practical tools to help keep you compliant.
October 25, 2021

Get the SHP newsletter

Daily health and safety news, job alerts and resources

in court

Manufacturer fined £200k after labourer suffers injuries in forklift incident

A yacht manufacturer has been sentenced after an employee was injured when his forklift truck overturned.

A 57-year-old employee of Princess Yachts Limited was injured whilst assisting the unloading of a delivery at the company’s Langage site, Plymouth Magistrates’ Court was told. The victim was using a forklift truck in tandem with another driver to lift a large load from a flatbed lorry, on 3 August 2018. Part of the load was lifted to allow the lorry to move forward, but in doing so another part of the load struck the mast of his forklift causing it to overturn. He sustained ligament and muscle damage to his ankle as a result of the incident and was off work for five months.

The HSE’s investigation found that the lifting work had not been properly planned or risk assessed. The employees were not aware of relevant procedures and there were safer alternate methods available which had not been considered.

Princess Yachts Limited of Bush Park, Plymouth pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act. The company was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,138.20.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Hatti Shipp said: “The risks associated with unloading vehicles should be recognised and controlled. Complex lifts including handling heavy or unusual loads require careful planning and additional considerations.

“This incident could have been avoided if appropriate safeguards had been put in place. Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders

In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.

Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.

Related Topics

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments