Packaging firm gets £14.6k fork lift injury bill

Platt Packaging Ltd was prosecuted for safety failings by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the accident at Rassau Industrial Estate on October 7 2013.

Newport Magistrates’ Court was told the driver Graham Williams aged 61 visited the site to collect palleted products for distribution. The accident took place as he stood near his lorry, while it was being loaded, in a telephone conversation with his employer, a freight company.

Knocked to the ground​

The driver was struck by the reversing forklift truck and knocked to the ground. Williams  suffered a double fracture to his left ankle, damage to his leg and spent over a month in Neville Hall hospital, Abergavenny. He has been unable to return to work.

Platt Packaging had no formal safe system of work in place for delivery operations at the site, according to an HSE investigation. The company also failed to provide instructions for delivery drivers to be in a place of safety during forklift truck operations. 

 After the hearing, HSE inspector Lee Schilling said: “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, he said. It should also have implemented a safe system of work that incorporated the need for communication between the delivery driver and the forklift operator.

‘Would not have been injured’​

“Had these basic safety requirements been fulfilled, the incident would not have happened and Mr Williams would not have been injured.”​

Platt Packaging Limited, of Rassau Industrial Estate, Rassau, Ebbw Vale, Gwent, was fined £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.

This latest prosecution follows at least seven other successful prosecutions for safety offences, including two fatal accidents, involving fork lift trucks.

In September a meat wholesaler was ordered to pay £20,000 for operating what the HSE described as a fault ridden forklift truck and falsifying records​ in a bid to mislead inspectors.   

In January 2014 a Lincolnshire vegetable business was fined £200,000 after a manager was knocked down and killed​ by a forklift truck.HSE guidance on workplace transport and the operation of forklift trucks can be found here​. Four months later, Hull-based food ingredients business AAK UK Ltd was ordered to pay £162,000 after a forklift truck driver was killed​ when a lorry reversed into the side of this vehicle.

HSE guidance on workplace transport and the operation of forklift trucks can be found here.