Editor's comment: Two forklift accidents and one tragedy
3 January 2024Three stories that have appeared in the UK press this year highlight the dangers of forklift trucks and the need to follow safety practices. Firstly, a 50-year-old warehouse operative was found to have contributed to their death by not following safe systems. The inquest heard the individual was driving a forklift in a warehouse of flooring distributors in 2022 when they sustained head injuries. They had placed a row of flooring on a shelf – that meant extending the forklift mast, which hit a beam and tipped over.
As reported in the Nottingham Post, the assistant coroner explained that as the forklift toppled, the individual “fell or jumped from the vehicle but, tragically, it ended up on top of [them and they were] killed”. The record of inquest said the driver “was fully trained… however, the training was not followed”.
In a second case, a magistrates’ court fined a clothing firm £40,000 over a 2022 forklift accident. The company pleaded guilty to breaching the UK’s Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, according to the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE). A delivery driver suffered multiple leg fractures and a dislocated ankle after being hit by a forklift at the site. An HSE investigation found the clothing company had failed to ensure the safe segregation of delivery drivers from the unloading and loading activities.
Finally, a manufacturing firm was fined £600,000 after a worker’s leg was crushed by a forklift truck in 2018. The individual had been walking across a pedestrian crossing at the site when a forklift truck, being driven by another employee, collided with the worker, crushing their leg and ankle. The driver did not slow down and his vision was restricted as the forklift truck was carrying multiple intermediate bulk containers (IBCs).
An HSE investigation found that the manufacturing firm had failed to provide an adequate risk assessment nor a safe system of work.
