Hampshire firm fined over death of delivery driver

Date:

24 January 2012

Release No:

COISE/2401

A Hampshire lift manufacturer has been prosecuted after a lorry driver was killed while delivering goods to its factory in Romsey.

Adam Millichip

Adam Millichip, 27, from Tenbury Wells, was working for a Worcester-based haulage company and was delivering pallets of sheet steel to Wessex Lift Co Limited in Hampshire on 16 November 2007.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed that Mr Millichip had parked the lorry at the side of the road, ready for the pallets to be offloaded by a forklift truck.

The forklift driver, employed by Wessex Lift Co Ltd, was using the forklift to manoeuvre one of the pallets, which weighed approximately one tonne, when it struck Mr Millichip across the chest and trapped him against the side of the lorry. He suffered major internal organ failure as a result of crush injuries across his chest. He died shortly afterwards.

HSE's investigation also found that inadequate controls were in place at the time of the incident to protect people from moving vehicles, and insufficient consideration had been given to the risks involved in offloading.

The court heard that HSE had previously given advice to the company about effective management of workplace transport risks.

Mr Millichip's death has had a huge effect on his family. His mother Susan Millichip, said:

"I can only describe losing Adam as like the devastation of an atom bomb - it has shattered so many lives. It has devastated Adam's son, Luke, who is five. We all feel the fun has gone out of our lives.

"Although it is a blessing that we always did everything together as a family, it is also now a curse because there will always be a huge hole where Adam was.

"It was an incident that should never have happened and no other family should suffer like we have."

Following sentencing, HSE Inspector David Bibby said:

"This tragic case highlights the importance of proper planning for deliveries, particularly around the risks of moving forklift trucks.

"Had Wessex Lift Co Limited considered this, they would have identified safer methods for receiving deliveries, something which they implemented immediately after the incident."

Wessex Lift Co Limited, of Budds Lane, Romsey, Hampshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at Winchester Crown Court. Today it was fined £65,000 and ordered to pay costs of £60,000.

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.gsi.gov.uk
2. 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."
3. Information on safe workplace transport and forklift trucks can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR South East