Freight Handling and Warehousing Company Fined £50,000 for Breaching Legislation / Food company fined £16,000

Forklift Striking Ignored Pothole Broke Man's Spine 

UK – A recent prosecution casts a light on a problem which is often present at road haulage depots where vehicles are loaded in open yards which are not properly maintained. Suffolk based transport and warehousing services company, Eagle Freight Terminal Ltd, has been sentenced for a series of safety breaches after a forklift truck toppled and spilled its load onto a worker, breaking his back. The firm was fined a total of £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,501.23 plus £120 victim surcharge after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and failing to comply with two Improvement Notices. 

Ipswich Magistrates' Court heard how on January 9, 2012, 56-year-old Neil Jennings, of Ipswich, was waiting for his trailer to be loaded in the yard of Eagle Freight Terminal Ltd at its Great Blakenham premises when one of the forklifts involved in the loading struck a pothole. The vehicle lurched sideways, shedding its pallets and boxes, one of which hit Jennings. He suffered multiple fractures to the vertebrae of his upper and middle back and was unable to work for several weeks. Jennings can now only undertake light duties and can no longer carry out everyday tasks without pain and discomfort.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), an independent watchdog for work-related health, safety and illness, which investigated the incident, found that the freight yard road surface was pitted with potholes and had been the subject of complaints by the company's employees over a significant period. There was little management of traffic movements and no instructions provided regarding segregation of workplace transport and pedestrians.

The court was told that two Improvement Notices were served by HSE on Eagle Freight after the incident requiring them to remedy the condition of the yard's surface and to introduce systems of control which would allow vehicles and pedestrians to circulate safely at the site. Despite two extensions of time to allow the remedial work to be completed, an inspection carried out in September 2012 revealed no work had been completed and neither of the Notices had been complied with. The court also heard that the company had been subject to similar enforcement action by HSE as far back as 2002/3 about the lack of control of workplace transport. After the case, HSE Inspector Paul Grover, said:

"This was an entirely preventable injury caused by persistent disregard by Eagle Freight of basic safety measures. The company allowed the yard's surface to deteriorate so badly that forklift trucks were regularly destabilised when carrying loads. There was also no system to allow vehicles and pedestrians to move safely around each other and the forklift truck driver had not been given suitable training which resulted in him using unsafe work practices where the truck was driven with the forks and load lifted.

"The company's subsequent repeated failure to meet the requirements of the two improvement notices demonstrated their complete disregard for their legal responsibility to keep their employees, and non-employees visiting the site, safe. The risks of serious injury and, all too frequently, death, resulting from the failure to control the safe movement of vehicles and pedestrians are widely recognised. Putting safe working practices in place is often simple and inexpensive and where this doesn't happen the costs, both financial and personal, can be immense."

Photo: A problem which is found wherever forklifts are asked to perform in less than ideal conditions. This shot from a South American haulage yard.

Felixstowe: Food company fined £16,000 for incident which left worker with several fractures

A Felixstowe-based food company was yesterday fined thousands of pounds after one of their workers suffered serious injuries to his right arm when it became trapped in unguarded machinery.

South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court was told 34-year-old Attila Czege, a Hungarian agency worker, had to take several months off work after the incident at Indo European Foods Ltd on September 20, 2012.

The court heard Mr Czege was working on a production line involved in bagging rice when his right arm became trapped and was dragged in and around a large roller at the end of the conveyor.

He suffered fractures to his upper and lower arm and also had to have surgery three times in two weeks to repair the damage.

A subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the conveyor had been at use at the factory since 2006 but had never been properly guarded to safeguard workers against dangerous moving parts.

During a routine inspection in April 2009, the HSE urged the company to install guards on that part of the machine – but a spokesman for the executive said the company “failed to adequately act on this advice”.

Representatives of the firm pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 11 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and were fined £16,000 yesterday.

Speaking after the case, HSE inspector Saffron Turnell, said: “The risk presented by this conveyor was evident given the working processes involved on the production line.

“The dangers associated with conveyors are well known throughout industry and the guarding of dangerous moving parts is a fundamental element of mechanical safety.

“Conveyors are involved in 30% of all machinery incidents in the food/drink industries and nine out of ten conveyor injuries occur on flat belt conveyors.

“This incident could have easily been avoided as action to guard the machine adequately was quick and inexpensive. It is disappointing that Indo European Foods Ltd failed to satisfactorily heed the earlier advice of HSE.

“Instead, Mr Czege suffered a serious and painful injury which resulted in several months off work.”

In addition to the fine, the firm, which is a food importer and wholesaler, was ordered to pay costs of £910.65 and a victim surcharge of £1,600.

This is the reason that I keep posting about London Gateway not recognising a Union. This is how some Employers treat their workers that do not have a voice in the workplace.