Print firm fined after worker hurt in lorry incident

Date:

14 December 2010

Release No:

WW1412

A 10-year-old equipment fault at a stationery supply firm saw a worker sustain serious injuries after he was caught between a reversing lorry and a loading platform.

Nathan Ford, 30, from Paulton suffered a fractured collarbone and forearm in the incident which happened as he was receiving a consignment of paper reels at the premises of his employer, Business Forms Express in Temple Cloud, Bristol.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the company, which supplies commercial stationery products to industry, after an investigation that found a flap connected to a dock leveller had been broken for a decade.

Bath Magistrates Court heard that on the day of the incident, April 22 this year, Mr Ford was standing in for the regular storeman and part of his role was to receive deliveries to a raised loading bay. However, the dock leveller - a device used to bridge the gap between the rear of the truck and the loading bay - was not working.

A flap was supposed to automatically rise when the leveller was operated but failed, so Mr Ford instead held the flap up manually. When the vehicle began reversing Mr Ford became trapped between the back of the trailer and the front of the dock leveller, causing his injuries.

Mr Ford's employer, Business Forms Express, of Trident Works, Marsh Lane, Temple Cloud, Bristol pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 5(1) and Regulation 8(1) of Provision of Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Regulation 3 (1) Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

The company was ordered to pay £1,500 in fines per breach, plus £500 in compensation to the injured party, and £2626 costs.

HSE Inspector, Dominic Goacher, said:

"In the ten years this equipment had been used by the company it had never worked as intended by the manufacturer. It is astonishing that this company allowed its workers to use equipment which had been broken for so long.

"To compound matters, the regular storeman had been forced to develop a way of working using the faulty equipment, but this was not passed on to Mr Ford.

"The firm had a health and safety management system but it failed to address the risks involved with unloading and reversing lorries in the workplace.

"This case demonstrates what can happen when simple safety procedures are ignored."

Further advice and information on loading and unloading vehicles can be found on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/movinggoods/about.htm

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement.
2. Regulation 5 (1) of the Provision of Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient working order and in good repair"
3. Regulation 8(1) of the Provision of Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that all persons who use work equipment have available to them adequate health and safety information and, where appropriate written instructions pertaining to the use of the work equipment"
4. Regulation 3 (1) Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states: "Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work ...."
5. The court also ordered the defendant to pay a separate £15 victim surcharge, the proceeds of which will be spent on services for victims and witnesses.

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR (South West)