Construction accident news
27/01/2009

Fatal forklift truck accident firm fined £10,000

A forklift truck accident has led to a warning being issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as an operator died from his personal injury that resulted from the accident.

The Cheshire man was crushed by a container of dye that weighed more than a ton, when it slipped from the forks of the lifting machinery in 2005. The company responsible has been fined £10,000 recently, and ordered to pay almost £7,000 in costs.

An HSE inspector said, "This was a tragic accident that could have been prevented had a safe system of work been in place. The container had a specialist mechanism for emptying it, but an improvised method was used when the incident happened.

"Two containers had successfully been opened and an attempt to unload the third was taking place when it slid off the front forks of the truck and tragically crushed [the personal injury victim].

"Employers have a responsibility to ensure that the right equipment is used for the job and to ensure that loads are safely secured. That wasn't the case in this incident, which sadly led to the loss of a man's life."

It is unknown whether the man's family intends to make a no win, no fee compensation claim as a result of this forklift truck accident.