Firm ordered to pay out £10k after worker seriously injured in forklift fall

Terence Jones suffered a fractured vertebra in his lower back when the ramp disconnected from the lorry and the forklift truck fell 4ft to the ground with him inside.

It happened at Linde Creighton Ltd, in Dartmouth Rd, on October 21 last year. The 58-year-old died two months later from a heart attack, unrelated to the industrial incident.

At Sandwell Magistrates' Court yesterday, the company was fined £8,000 after pleading guilty to failing to ensure the health and safety of Mr Jones. It was also ordered to pay £1,144 costs and a £800 victim surcharge.

Mrs Caroline Lane, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said Mr Jones was reversing the truck onto a ramp at the back of the lorry when it fell to the ground.

She said a manual on how to use the ramp instructed it should be raised to the back of a lorry while supported by a hydraulic pump and then connected to the rear of the vehicle with two safety chains. However, when the ramp gave way under Mr Jones, only one chain was connected.

Mrs Lane said an investigation had found the company had failed to enforce safety procedures for workers using the ramp and had not carried out regular risk assessments.

She said: "The incident was entirely foreseeable and preventable."

Bob Davies, representing the firm, said: "I am instructed to express the company's sincere regret that this accident happened and that a valued, well-liked an highly regarded employee was injured. The company accepts full responsibility of this incident."

He said after the mobile ramp was introduced at the company in 2008, it had been used more than 4,000 times to unload forklifts, but there had been no complaints from workers or reported near misses before the incident involving Mr Jones.

He said: "This is not a case which involves failure by management to heed any warnings. There were arrangements in place before the incident to ensure there was a safe system of working, training had been given to operatives.

"The key safety facts were clearly marked on the ramp itself. However, the company accepts it did not do enough and should have done more."

Mr Davies said the company had since investigated the incident and worked with the HSE to improving standards.

Richard Brookes, chairman of the bench, said: "It is the view of the bench that this was an accident waiting to happen."

After the case, Mrs Lane added: "Linde Creighton Ltd had a clear, easily achievable standard to meet but failed to achieve it, resulting in a painful injury to a member of staff."