Cleaning products firm fined after truck falls on worker

Date:

14 July 2011

Release No:

HSE/EM/210/11

A Nottingham cleaning products manufacturer has been fined after an employee was seriously injured when a powered industrial truck used to lift and transport materials toppled and fell on him.

The worker, who has asked not to be named, suffered a fractured cheekbone, multiple skull injuries and long term impaired vision after the incident, which happened when he was helping load a lorry using a semi-electric stacker truck. The truck was pulled over a kerb and fell onto the employee.

His employer, Revelholme Marketing Ltd (trading as Unic International), was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation.

The company, of Colwick Road, Nottingham, which makes solvent degreasers and cleaning products, was found guilty of breaching Regulation 4(3) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 at a three day trial which completed yesterday. They were fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £18,000.

Nottingham Magistrates' Court heard that after the incident on 23 January 2009, the employee was hospitalised for 10 days and was off work for almost three months. Although he has returned to work, the man still suffers from the after-effects of his injuries.

Commenting after the trial, HSE Inspector Stuart Pilkington said:

"The stacker truck was mainly used in the factory and car park but on occasion employees used the truck to load lorries in the road.

"A slope between the two surfaces and the lip of the dropped kerb made the terrain unsuitable for this type of equipment to be used.

"Companies need to ensure that the work equipment they use, such as stacker trucks, is suitable for the task, and for the conditions in which it is used."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related 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. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Health and safety legislation is currently under the spotlight as part of the Cabinet Office's Red Tape Challenge. To have your say on which regulations should stay and which should be scrapped, visit: http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/home/index/ and the Government will consider your views.
3. Regulation 4(3) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states that "Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is used only for operations for which, and under conditions for which, it is suitable."
4. Information and advice to help improve health and safety in the waste management and recycling industry. Can be found on the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/waste/index.htm

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