Health and safety cases in the news this week

Freight company fined £50,000 after worker hit by falling pallets (HSE)

A Suffolk-based freight company has been sentenced for a series of safety breaches after a forklift truck toppled and spilled its load onto a worker, breaking his back.

Neil Jennings, 56, of Ipswich, was waiting for his trailer to be loaded in the yard of Eagle Freight Terminal Ltd at its Great Blakenham premises when one of the forklifts doing the loading hit a pothole. The vehicle lurched sideways, shedding its pallets and boxes, one of which hit Mr Jennings.

He suffered multiple fractures to the vertebrae of his upper and middle back and was unable to work for several weeks. Mr Jennings can now only undertake light duties and can no longer carry out everyday tasks without pain and discomfort.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, Regulation 9(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, Regulation 17(1) of the Workplace [Health, Safety and Welfare] Regulations 1992 and for failing to comply with two Improvement Notices. It was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,501.23 plus a £120 victim surcharge.

Construction firm fined £4,000 after worker seriously hurt in fall (HSE)

A construction firm has been fined for safety failings after an agency worker suffered serious arm injuries in a fall while working on a County Durham residential home.

David Hammel, 55, of Langley Park, has been left unable to resume his work as a joiner after sustaining the injuries after falling two and a half metres from a wall on 9 July 2012.

MGM Ltd of Rhodes Street, Newcastle, was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £6,184 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Derby manufacturer fined after worker’s finger crushed (HSE)

A machinery manufacturer has been sentenced after an Essex worker’s finger was badly crushed in an unguarded machine.

Benjamin Tracey, 32, of Braintree, was attempting to clear a blockage in a newly installed form, fill and seal machine at a food manufacturer’s in Halstead, Essex, when its heated jaws closed on his left index finger and a knife mechanism fired into his finger, badly crushing and slicing the bone and soft tissue.

Line Equipment Ltd, of Cedar house, Ashbourne Road, Derby, was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £1,330.20 costs after pleading guilty to breaching regulation 7(2)(a) of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008.

Rolls Royce fined £60,000 after worker suffers permanent injury (HSE)

British engineering company Rolls Royce has been sentenced after an employee was diagnosed with a debilitating condition that has left him with permanent nerve damage.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the company after Allan Thornewill, 55, from Derby, developed bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome after being exposed to high levels of vibration at the company’s premises in Wilmore Road, Derby.

Rolls Royce Plc of Buckingham Gate, London, was fined a total of £60,000 and ordered to pay £18,168 in costs after admitting/being found guilty of a breach of the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005, and a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Redmans Solicitors are employment law solicitors and personal injury solicitors who can help you claim personal injury

Redmans Solicitors

Redmans Solicitors

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