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An employee of a food manufacturing firm incurred severe injuries following a fall from height, with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) ruling this was due to noncompliance with health and safety procedures.

Lincolnshire company Fishgate Ltd was fined after being found guilty of a breach of the health and safety regulations relating to an incident in July 2013, when a worker had been told to paint the drainpipes and guttering on the exterior of the factory.

 

Lincoln Magistrates' Court was told that a forklift truck driver had raised the worker up to a height of about six metres. A tote box, which was not secured, was used to raise the employee up on the forklift. The worker fell off the forklift, breaking his foot, and sustaining a shattered leg, cracked pelvis and dislocated arm.

Following an investigation by the HSE, it was discovered that the work had not been supervised or adequately planned. Advice had not been provided to the worker on how to correctly conduct the work, while no training had been supplied either. A fine of £100,000 was levied on the firm, which was also told to pay costs of £19,032.63.


According to Samantha Farrar, the HSE inspector, the incident could have been prevented by using the correct planning procedure, providing training and instruction, and wearing the correct equipment, which may have included the use of PPE or specialist workwear.

Employers have a duty of care to all employees, for all tasks, under the appropriate health and safety regulations. These are designed to avoid illness, injury and death in the workplace.

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