Workers at a bus depot in Essex used unsuitable lifting equipment when working underneath vehicles, despite the correct equipment being available at the site, a court heard.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that a mechanical engineer suffered serious injuries while working underneath a bus at The Original London Sightseeing Tour Ltd’s depot at Ferry Lane, Rainham.
On 21 October 2009, the 58-year-old engineer, who wishes to remain anonymous, was resetting an air bag on an open-top double-decker bus. He used column vehicle lifts to raise the bus’ front and real axles, and used wooden blocks to lift the tag axle. One of his colleagues was assisting him by raising and lowering the bus using the vehicle lift control on his instruction.
With the bus raised two feet off the ground, and the engineer sat upright underneath it, the blocks cracked and the tag axle dropped and pinned him to the ground. His colleague used the lifts to raise the bus and pull him clear. The engineer was hospitalised for two weeks, having suffered a broken pelvis and several broken ribs. He was unable to return to work for eight months.
HSE inspector Jane Wolfenden visited the depot the following day and issued a Prohibition Notice, which ordered the company to stop using the wooden blocks during lifting operations.
Inspector Wolfenden told SHP that the tag axle should have been raised using a column vehicle lift, as was being used at either end of the bus. The investigation found there was another set of lifts in the workshop but it had become an accepted method of work to use the wooden blocks instead. Alternatively, the work could have been carried out at one of the firm’s other depots, which have multiple vehicle pits, noted the inspector.
“The use of wooden blocks in this way could easily have resulted in a fatality”, said inspector Wolfenden. “It was foreseeable that the blocks were likely to give way, putting the lives of employees at risk.
“Had the company carried out an effective risk assessment that involved site engineers, this entirely preventable incident could have been avoided.”
The Original London Sightseeing Tour appeared in court on 8 February and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £10,500 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs.
In mitigation, the firm said it had no previous convictions and it expected the foreman at the site to identify the danger. He was an experienced worker that the company said it trusted to ensure all repairs were carried out safely.
The company entered an early guilty plea and told the court that it now ensures that all three sets of lifts are used to raise buses.
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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.
