A refractory goods manufacturer has admitted failing to create a safe system of work for unloading deliveries, following an incident where a forklift truck fell off a ramp.
Andrew Baxter, 50, was unloading a 20ft container at Vesuvius UK Ltd’s factory in Chesterfield, when the incident took place on 15 February 2010. He had attempted to attach a mobile ramp to the lorry bed that a forklift could use to unload the delivery. The ramp is attached to the vehicle by chains, but the clasp on the chains didn’t fit the hooking point on the lorry. Consequently, Mr Baxter attached the chains to a fixing point lower down, which meant that the ramp was level with the lorry bed.
When Mr Baxter was reversing out of the lorry, the ramp became separated from the lorry bed and the forklift dropped to the ground. He suffered a fractured back and crushed disc and spent eight days in hospital. He was unable to return to work for nine months and is still only able to work part-time.
The HSE issued the company Prohibition Notice, which required it to stop using the ramp until it was in a suitable condition and a safe system of work had been created. An investigation found no evidence of a risk assessment having been carried out for unloading and loading procedures at the site. Forklift drivers were aware that the ramp could move away from the lorry beds, and they had adopted an informal system of using the forks of the truck to push it back into position.
HSE inspector Fiona Coffey told SHP that the incident could have been avoided if chocks had been placed behind the wheels of the ramp and the lorry. The company also failed to put a system in place to ensure that delivery drivers couldn’t move lorries before the loading process was complete.
Inspector Coffey said: “Vesuvius UK Ltd failed to proactively assess the risks of loading and unloading using the mobile ramps, a failure that resulted in Mr Baxter sustaining severe injuries.
“The company had a legal duty to ensure work equipment was safe to use and that employees were instructed in safe systems of work and supervised, but it had also failed to do so.
“There should also have been a system in place to ensure that delivery drivers handed in the keys to their vehicle to make sure that they could only leave once the loading or unloading process was complete.”
Vesuvius UK appeared at Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court on 5 January and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974 and reg.3(1)(a) of the MHSWR 1999. It was fined a total of £24,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £4815.
In mitigation, the company said it had no previous convictions and admitted that it had unintentionally overlooked the safety concerns for this method of work. The court heard that the firm had decided against repairing the ramp and has modified other ramps at the site so they include landing legs on the joining point, to prevent them from dropping.
The firm has subsequently created a safe system of work, which includes the use of wheel chocks, and has trained staff to carry out the work safely. A delivery driver safe zone has also been created, where drivers must wait until they are told it is safe to return to their vehicles.
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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.
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