Company fined as Agency worker was crushed while unloading a vehicle

Logistics company, ERIKS Industrial Services Limited of Amber Way, was fined £373,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,333 on 29 March 2018 at Southend Magistrates’ Court, due to pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 as agency worker was crushed on-site.

An agency worker was crushed when unchaining a vehicle ramp from a delivery lorry. When the lorry moved forward with one chain still attached to the ramp, the agency worker was crushed between the ramp and a barrier.

HSE inspectors identified that the cause of this incident was a lack of training and insufficient information provided to workers and visiting drivers. There was also no safe system of work that identified the risks and control methods that would have potentially prevented this accident. One measure that would have prevented the accident is taking the driver’s ignition keys until the activity was carried out safely.

At Sentinel Safety, we can visit our client’s premises and identify the risks arising from work operations including high-risk activities such as loading and unloading vehicles. We can undertake risk assessments and provide ongoing health and safety consultancy support.

We also offers a range of training courses such as IOSH Managing Safely, Health and Safety at Work and Manual Handling training that help employees become more knowledgeable about controlling risks in the workplace in order to minimise the risk of injury.

For further information about our services, please email info@sentinelsafety.co.uk or call 01527 833834.