A transport company in the UK was fined for safety failings after a worker suffered serious injuries after a crate fell on him while he was unloading.
The incident, dating back to 2013, occurred whilst a worker was helping to unload containers containing crates with glass mirrors. One of these containers had no fork pockets or lighting, so he was trying to manually assist the forklift truck operator to align the forks correctly. Some of the crates seemed to be stuck; unfortunately when the forklift operator tried to dislodge them, one fell onto the worker, pushing him to the side of the container.
The worker affected by the incident suffered life changing injuries and will not be able to work for at least three years.
According to the current Health and Safety legislation principles (Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974), Portmans Transport, the employer, was fined a total of £9,000 (around €12,000), and pleaded guilty to an offence under section 2(1) of the act.
The injured employee had apparently only been working at the company for less than three weeks and had no previous experience with this type of unloading work.
The incident was recognised as evitable: the company failed to plan what should happen in the event of an awkward unloading (or “devanning”) situation—incorrectly assessing and identifying the risks. According to the act, a company has a duty to identify these kinds of risks and take the appropriate control measures.
