Health and safety at Lincolnshire firm described as “accident waiting to happen”

A worker has been left in agony after his leg was crushed by 41 stone beams.

The victim had only been employed by Lincolnshire company Losberger UK for a few weeks when he was asked to move the beams into storage. However, he had not received any training on the procedure. As he cut straps holding the beams, they fell onto his leg, crushing it and breaking his fibula and tibia.

According to the prosecution, staff were only given superficial and verbal training in the first three months, due to the company having a high turnover of employees. After staff had completed three months, they were given formal training.

A former employee of the company, who had left the firm shortly before the incident, described the company's health and safety as “an accident waiting to happen”.

Losberger UK pleaded guilty to the charges, and was fined £25,000, along with being ordered to pay costs of £20,374.86. The company admitted that the worker had been let down and said that he should not have been given that task to carry out. Since the accident, the company has spent more than £80,000 on health and safety procedures, some of which may have included PPE.

Judge Peter Veits stated that the accident had occurred due to poor management at the workplace, and that the victim had said that he was not trained to carry out the task. The judge said that the senior worker should not have allowed the worker to carry out the task.