HSE warns of the dangers of unloading materials after employee's legs are crushed

Date:

3 September 2009

Release No:

HSE/WM/268/2009

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning companies of the importance of implementing safe systems for unloading materials and providing adequate training, following the prosecution of a Wolverhampton company after an incident in which a worker was seriously injured.

KJ Plant Developments Ltd was (on 3 September 2009) ordered to pay a total of £14,000 in fines, with £6,015 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974, as well as further contraventions of Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Regulation 9(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

Stafford Magistrates Court heard how on 26 March 2008, Michael Jones, an employee, was unloading mesh reinforcement from a vehicle when the load slipped from the forks of a forklift truck and fell on him, crushing his legs.

The employee was taken to hospital where one leg was eventually amputated, while the other leg underwent extensive surgery.

Speaking after the case, HSE Inspector David Brassington said:

"Mr Jones has been left with life changing injuries. His employer failed to implement fundamental safety procedures.

"The loading and unloading of lorries requires careful planning and effective control and should be considered as a critical part of transport management. This case has shown that failure to control these activities can lead to horrific injuries and maybe even death."

Notes to editors

1. Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as it is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."
2. Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 Regulation 3(1)(a) requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work.
3. Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998: Regulation 9 requires every employer to ensure that all persons who use work equipment have received adequate training for purposes of health and safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken

   The maximum penalty, in a lower court (Magistrates') for a single breach of the above Act is £20,000 and £5,000 for each breach of a regulation.

   The maximum penalty, in a lower court (Magistrates'), for a single breach of the above Act, for any offences committed after 16th January 2009, is a fine not exceeding £20,000 or up to 1 year imprisonment.

   Cases heard in the higher (Crown) court, for offences committed after 16th January, 2009, carry an unlimited fine or up to 2 years imprisonment.

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