In a prosecution brought by Amber Valley Borough Council, Aldi pleaded guilty at Derby Crown Court to two offences relating to health and safety breaches following an accident to a delivery driver at Somercotes store on Nottingham Road, in November 2013.
The conviction follows a lengthy investigation by Amber Valley Borough Council’s Regulation Unit.
In only his second week of a new job delivering goods to stores, the driver sustained severe foot injuries, while using a powered pallet truck.
Aldi relied on new drivers shadowing other drivers before they started working alone and did not have in place a standardised training programme to make sure drivers had the necessary skills to operate equipment.
The driver suffered fractures to all of his toes on his left foot, resulting in two of them having to be surgically amputated. His foot had to be reconstructed using wires and he was off work for nearly six months. Although the injured party has returned to work for Aldi, his injuries have left him with pain that will have repercussions in years to come and can be considered life-changing.
Aldi Stores Ltd, who have a turnover of £ 7.7bn (last financial year), admitted to the Court that the training provided by them should have been more structured and formal.
In summing up, Judge Peter Cooke acknowledged that Aldi Stores Ltd should have revised the training given to drivers sooner, following previous incidents in the company.
The Council’s lead investigating officer, Julia Cope said: “This accident resulted in very nasty injuries to a driver who had been asked to carry out work using equipment for which his employer had failed to provide structured and necessary formal training.”
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They could start at their RDC’s where delivery drivers have to unload their own trucks using these powered pallet trucks with minimal training, more a briefing really, it’s been an accident waiting to happen for years
A clear reminder of the importance of inductions and training, which is particularly crucial in a workers’ first days and weeks on a new job. Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call for ALDI and other similar companies about how critical it is that a standardised training programme is in place. Such a shame that someone has to receive life-change injuries for this to become apparent.
A great way of reducing these risks by ensuring this training is delivered consistently is to deliver inductions and training online on a platform like initiafy.com. They can be complete role and site specific training before they even arrive on day one, so they won’t ever encounter the hazards in the workplace without having received the training they require to be safe on site.
Training can never be underestimated.
The personal injury the employee sustained cannot be fully understood by the majority. Every facet of the injured employees life will be forever effected, his personal ability to walk, run (if still possible) impacted upon, his level of comfort in standing, sleeping changed forever. NO AMOUNT OF COMPENSATION can recompense the victims fall in his personal well-being.
Training is paramount in keeping operatives as safe as is possible, Health & Safety is there for a reason and should never be diluted.
Aldi have learned nothing;;; during CPC training in January 2018 myself and approx 10 other drivers were asked to make a statement about the company for discussion, I seized the moment and made the statement ALDI DRIVERS ARE PUSHED TO THE LIMIT . the guy in charge of the training looked at the transport manager who was present, he gave the slightest shake of his head and the most damming statement on the board was not discussed during the course of the next 8hrs.
several months later a driver fell asleep on the A1 south and had a heavy crash (no one hurt).
the driver was asked to leave the company of his own accord to avoid a bad reference. I believe the spineless CPC instructor who has masses of expireance in the haulage industry but only passes on managerial instuctions to drivers under the guise of a bespoke CPC should be replaced by someone who dare speak freely and the transport manager who blatantly ignored the warning i presented should be asked to leave the company the same as the driver who was indeed PUSHED TO THE LIMIT