Manufacturer’s failures resulted in employee fatality

August 6, 2021

A lighting manufacturer in Blackburn has been fined after an employee was fatally injured when the forklift truck he was driving struck an overhead steel beam.

On 14 June 2019, the employee was operating a forklift truck to move pallets at the company premises in Witton Business Park, Blackburn. The mast of the forklift truck hit a low overhead structural beam, causing the truck to overturn.

The employee was trapped underneath the roll cage and received fatal crush injuries.

The HSE found that the traffic routes on site required forklift trucks to travel under a number of overhead structural beams which only had a small clearance gap between the mast of the trucks at their lowest setting and the beams. There were no hazard markings to highlight these overhead obstructions.

MK Illumination (UK) Ltd of Witton Business Park, Preston Old Road, Blackburn, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £53,360 and ordered to pay costs of £7,880.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Anthony Banks said: “The company’s system of work was not safe. With the forklift trucks operating within such tight margins, the company simply relied on the assumption its employees would always remember to lower the forks to their lowest position whilst travelling underneath the overhead beams.

“MK Illumination (UK) Ltd not only failed to physically mark the overhead beams in a conspicuous way to provide the forklift truck operators with a prominent warning of the limited headroom, but the company also failed to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the traffic routes. When this was done after the incident, the revised traffic routes avoided the low overhead beams altogether.”

 

This is valid as of 6th August 2021.

Sign-up to the Barbour Monthly Newsletter

Get the latest Health, Safety and Environmental news and information – sign up for updates from Barbour EHS. Computer monitor What you’ll get:
  • Free downloads including Directors’ Briefings, legislation updates, webinars, risk assessments and more
  • VIP invites to events
  • Important industry news and updates
  • Invitations to hot topic webinars hosted by Barbour
  • Industry partner information
[ssba-buttons]

You May Also Be Interested In

Comments are closed.

✉ Sign up to the Barbour Newsletter

Free downloads, advance notice of webinars, product updates and perks – all straight to your inbox.

  • Barbour EHS may from time to time send updates about Barbour products and services. By providing your contact information you consent to being contacted for direct marketing purposes by Barbour EHS. Please ensure you review our Privacy Policy.