A waste and recycling company has been fined after an employee suffered life-changing injuries after being crushed by a reversing vehicle.
The HSE’s investigation found that no suitable risk assessment had been carried out and the company failed to segregate vehicles and pedestrians in the yard.
The incident occurred when a worker was crushed against a wall by a reversing Telehandler truck.
As a result, the company have been fined £24,000 and ordered to pay £4,777 in costs.
Best practice for reducing risk
With around 1,300 serious injuries occurring as a result of forklift-related accidents each year, it’s vital that businesses take measures to ensure that those on site can all carry out their work safely.
Safe Systems of Work based on risk assessments of specific tasks ensure that all parties understand how to carry out their duties safely, while maintaining suitable distances between forklift trucks and pedestrians.
Physical segregation, where possible, helps to keep people safe and where total separation is not feasible and staff are required to perform tasks in a shared area, other control measures are needed to keep them apart.
For any guidance on applying Safe Systems of Work to your operations and ensuring pedestrians and operators can safely work together on your site, contact us today.
To read the full HSE report on this incident, click here.