Packaging Firm Fined £10,000 for Worker’s Injuries

Overview of incident

A delivery driver was hit by a forklift truck while visiting a Ebbw Vale packaging company. The injured person was on a telephone call with his employer, a freight company, and was standing nearby with his back to the vehicle. The injured person was struck by the reversing forklift truck and knocked to the ground.

The injured person suffered a double fracture to his left ankle, damage to his leg and spent over a month in hospital and has been unable to return to work.

Details of fine

Platt Packaging Limited, of Rassau Industrial Estate, Rassau, Ebbw Vale, Gwent, was fined a total of £10,000 and ordered to pay £4,663 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

An invesigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE found that Platt Packaging had no formal safe system of work in place for delivery operations at the site. The company also failed to provide instructions for delivery drivers to be in a place of safety while the forklift truck was being used.

Injured Person(s)

Graham Williams, 61

Company Involved

Platt Packaging Ltd

Location

Ebbw Vale, Gwent, Wales

Court

Newport Magistrates’ Court

Quotes

The dangers associated with workplace transport are well-documented in the industry. Incidents involving moving vehicles and pedestrians on the same site have resulted in major injuries, and even fatalities in the workplace.

Platt Packaging should have provided a clearly marked, designated safe zone for delivery drivers and implemented a safe system of work that incorporated the need for communication between the delivery driver and the forklift operator.

Had these basic safety requirements been fulfilled, the incident would not have happened and Mr Williams would not have been injured. – Lee Schilling, HSE Inspector