Tesco Maintenance Ltd has been fined £80,000 after an employee lost the toes on his right foot following a lift accident.
On 7 August 2009, Mohammed Ferdous was asked to help move crates out of a goods lift at Tesco in Warwick Way, Victoria, London.
When the lift suddenly moved down his right foot was crushed and he was trapped there for 10 minutes until colleagues heard him screaming from the basement and went to manually pump the lift door to release his foot.
Doctors were unable to save Mr Ferdous’s toes and he was off work for a year.
An investigation by Westminster City Council looked into the maintenance of the lift by Otis Ltd and the supervision of that maintenance by Tesco Maintenance Ltd.
Southwark Crown Court heard that the lift hadn’t been maintained at all for a number of months before the accident.
Tesco Maintenance Ltd and Otis Ltd both pleaded guilty to a failure to discharge a duty under section 3(1) of the HSWA 1974. Tesco Maintenance Ltd was fined £80,000 and Otis Ltd was fined £75,000. Both companies were ordered to pay £35,000 each in legal costs.
Tesco Stores Ltd was accused of failing to ensure the safety of an employee under section 2(1) of the HSWA 1974. This charge was left on file.
Tesco Maintenance Ltd, Tesco Stores Ltd, and Otis Ltd were all accused of contravening regulations under the Management of Health and Safety Work Regulations 1999. These charges were also left on file.
Mr Ferdous has reached an undisclosed out of court settlement with Tesco Stores Ltd.
Following the prosecution, James Armitage, Westminster City Council service manager for food, health and safety said: “This was an entirely preventable accident and it could have been prevented if Otis Ltd and Tesco Maintenance Ltd had collectively ensured that the lift was properly maintained.
“All companies, big and small, have duties to ensure the safety of their staff and customers. We hope lessons will be learned so that something like this never happens again.”
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.
