Nottinghamshire company fined after two workers are injured

Date:

08 April 2009

Release No:

EM/08/09

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is reminding employers of their duties to the safety of staff following two incidents in Mansfield where employees at the same company suffered serious injuries within weeks of each other.

Mansfield-based SDC Trailers Ltd were fined £3,300 and SDC Parts and Services Ltd were fined £2,600, both were ordered to pay costs of £1,824.60 at Mansfield Magistrates Court today, Wednesday 8 April, after pleading guilty to breaching Health and Safety legislation.

SDC Parts and Services Ltd contravened Regulation 3(1)a of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 in that they failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees in relation to the unloading of trailers containing lorry tyres and wheel and tyre assemblies. SDC Trailers Ltd contravened Regulation 10 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 in that they failed to prevent tyres loaded on a curtain-sided trailer from falling, causing injury to an employee.

On 4 June 2007, an employee of SDC Parts and Services Ltd was injured whilst unloading a consignment of lorry wheel and tyre assemblies from a curtain-sided trailer. The trailer had been loaded by SDC Trailers Ltd at their factory in Northern Ireland. The goods were being manually palletized when one fell from a stack and fractured his knee.

On 10 July 2007, another employee of SDC Parts and Services Ltd received crushing injuries when preparing to unload lorry tyres from a curtain-sided trailer, also loaded by SDC Trailers Ltd. As he released the curtain an unsecured stack of tyres fell from the trailer, pinning him against an adjacent vehicle and causing crush injuries.

Prosecuting, HSE Inspector Maureen Kingman said:

"The unloading of trailers in which loads have not been properly secured places those involved at considerable risk. The outcome of these incidents - the injuries and the subsequent fine - reminds us that the results can be serious for people and for businesses that fail to comply with their health and safety duties."

Notes to editors

1. For further information on working at heights or on hazards in maintenance, visit http://www.hse.gov.uk . The second phase of the Shattered Lives campaign was launched earlier this month to highlight the devastating consequences of slips, trips and falls in the workplace and to encourage employers, in consultation with their employees, to 'take action'.
2. HSE produces a wide range of guidance to assist companies carrying out work at height generally and for safe working on lifts more specifically. These assist companies carrying out such work and identify appropriate control measures to prevent potential injuries.
3. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health and safety."

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR East Midlands.