Company fined after worker suffers back injury in forklift fall

A forklift truck company has been fined £8,000 after a worker at its West Bromwich factory fractured a vertebra when a vehicle fell from a lorry.

Black Country Magistrates’ Court heard on 23 September that 58-year-old Terence Jones was unloading a forklift by driving it down a ramp at Linde Creighton Ltd, in Dartmouth Road. The ramp dislodged from the trailer, causing it and the forklift to drop straight down.

The truck fell around 1.2 metres, landing upright on all four wheels in the incident on 21 October 2013.

An HSE investigation found the ramp had not been securely attached to the trailer using both the chains it came with. Although one of the two chains had been attached, the other was left off as overhanging bushes made it difficult to get to the far side of the ramp.

The investigation also found the company had failed to risk assess the activity and monitor and enforce the safe system of work to ensure staff used all the safety critical features when attaching the ramp.

Linde Creighton Ltd, of Kingsclere Road, Basingstoke, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £1,144 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Caroline Lane said: “Mr Jones had used the ramp at least twice a day to unload forklift truck deliveries since the company bought it in 2008. The ramp manufacturer had provided instructions for its use, and safety warnings and precautions in the operating and maintenance manual clearly stated that unless restrained, the ramp could move away from the dock of the vehicle and that personnel could fall.

“The incident was therefore entirely foreseeable and preventable. Linde Creighton Ltd had a clear, easily achievable standard to meet but failed to achieve it, resulting in a painful injury to a member of staff.”

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.

Listen now!