Lincoln Crown Court heard the man was transporting tyres on 30 July 2014 at the premises of Grantham firm Vacu-Lug Traction, when the fork lift ran over a loose tyre in the road.
He was crushed between the fork lift truck and the ground and later died from his injuries.
Rolling
The Health & Safety Executive found there was no company policy in place instructing workers to wear seat belts when operating fork lift trucks. The investigation also revealed that if the tyres had been stored securely this would have prevented them rolling onto the roadway and would have reduced the risk of the fork lift truck overturning.
Vacu-Lug Traction Tyres Limited of Hill Foot, Grantham, Lincolnshire pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £300,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000.
Speaking after the hearing HSE Principal inspector David Butter said: “This tragic incident could have easily been prevented if the company had enforced and monitored the wearing of seat belts for fork lift truck drivers”.
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Strange that no details relating to training or risk assessment have been included within the brief detail of this article. If the operator is trained and skilled and the training process covered seat belts and the organisation had a risk assessment that detailed seat belts would a policy be required?
Totally agree with the enforcing the use of seatbelts statement.
a bit late, what is the point of letting anyone know of an accident 5 years later. The law is an ass, and cases take far to long.