Llanelli company fined £400,000 after employee dies at work

Date:

18 March 2011

A Llanelli-based automotive manufacturer has been fined £400,000 after an employee died on the day he was to take voluntary redundancy.

Darren Small

Father-of-two, Darren Small, 35, from Loughor was employed by Calsonic Kansei UK Limited, of Llethri Road in the town when he was struck by a forklift truck on 17 March 2008.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found Mr Small had gone onto the factory floor to issue instruction to a forklift truck operator. As Mr Small finished speaking the forklift truck reversed into him, knocking him to the ground. He sustained fatal head injuries, and died in Morriston Hospital three days later.

Calsonic Kansei UK Limited, pleaded guilty to a charges under Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and at Swansea Crown Court, the company were fined £400,000 and ordered to pay £44,790.14 costs.

HSE inspector Stephen Jones said:

"It's fairly routine for forklift trucks to operate within the same area as pedestrians in this industry. However, working procedures and systems need to be in place to prevent vehicles colliding with people.

"This tragic incident could have been avoided had all contractors and employees been aware of the risks, and had the safety procedures been taken to avoid such risks."

Mr Small's family issued the following statement:

"Darren was such a fabulous, lovely and kind-hearted person and a really devoted father. To die on the day he was due to have taken voluntary redundancy is even more tragic.

"Time does not heal. We all miss him so very much and his children are still finding it extremely hard to cope with losing their loving father.

"We hope employers hearing this case will have more regard for health and safety in future as no other family should go through what we have had to endure - losing such a wonderful person from our lives."

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. 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 is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."
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 or safety."
4. All employers have a duty to assess risks in the workplace and put in place sensible health and safety measures to manage them. More information on risk assessment can be found on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/index.htm.

Press enquiries

Regional reporters should call the appropriate Regional News Network press office.

Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR Wales