Load toppling from pallet truck crushes worker

The 54-year-old, who does not want to be named, injured his spine and was unable to work for several weeks as a result of the incident in Woking on 17 December 2012 at a new- build head office for the World Wildlife Fund.

He was working for Wilden Services Limited, of Hemel Hempstead, which had been sub-contracted to install a ventilation system in the new building.

Guildford Crown Court heard that the large fan unit, weighing some 630kg, fell over as it was being moved on a pallet truck and pinned him underneath.

The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which found it could have been prevented had a better system of work been in place.

Wilden Services Ltd, of Belswains Lane, Hemel Hempstead, was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay a further £7,148 in costs after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Denis Bodger commented: "The employee was seriously injured and could have been paralysed had his spinal cord been damaged by the falling unit.

"Companies should always ensure that extreme care is taken when moving heavy items, and that includes properly assessing the risks in advance and agreeing a safe system of work.

"The incident was entirely avoidable with better planning and management."

A forklift safety expert who has served as an advisor to the HSE said employers were obligated to ensure operators had adequate training on any machine or appliance provided for that employee to undertake their work.

John (Dai) Carter said: "It is difficult to speak about specific cases without seeing all the facts but in my opinion very few of the thousands of people who use a pallet truck, manual or powered, receive any training in how to use the machine or are given any instruction about load security or load centres.

"One can spot these trucks being misused in literally hundreds of applications.

"I would imagine that this fan which was probably well within the weight limit of the truck but perhaps did not sit firmly on a pallet and would not have been safely secured to the pallet, so would rock from side to side and or end to end while being transported. A slight undulation in the floor or one load wheel passing over a small instruction would cause the load to fall off the pallet.

"If the injured person had been trained and the employer could prove that adequate supervision was given, I doubt the HSE would have prosecuted.”