Lorry driver injured after lifting beam used incorrectly

Leicester Crown Court was told that on the 26 October 2010, railway engine wheels weighing more than 2.5 tonnes each were being loaded onto the back of a lorry driven by Mark Furborough, at Brush Electrical Machines in Meadow Lane, Loughborough.

A fork lift truck was being used to load the wheels and was being driven by an employee of Brush Electrical Machines. It was fitted with a lifting beam manufactured by Keenhandle. Halfway through the lifting operation, the beam became detached from the fork lift truck and struck Mr Furborough.

Mr Furborough who was 44 years old at the time, suffered two broken bones in his left leg, a torn ligament, a broken left wrist and a broken rib. He was off work for nine months and is no longer able to work as a lorry driver.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that Brush Electrical Machines Ltd was loading the wheels using an unsafe system of work and inappropriate equipment.

The investigation also found that Keenhandle, as supplier of the lifting beam, should have provided information and instruction to Brush Electrical Machines Ltd in its intended and safe operation, so that it would not be misused.

Brush Electrical Machines, of Arden Road, Alcester, Warwickshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to protect people not in their employment.

Keenhandle, of Loughborough Road, Quorn, Leicestershire, was found guilty at a trial in Leicester Crown Court in June of this year of a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to protect people not in their employment.

Brush Electrical Machines Ltd was fined £67,000 and ordered to pay costs of £15,500. Keenhandle Ltd was fined £25,000 and ordered to pay costs of £60,000

After the hearing HSE inspector David Lefever said: "This incident was entirely preventable. Keenhandle failed to give the other company adequate instructions on how the equipment that they manufactured should be used and failed to assess the foreseeable risks posed by the use of the equipment. 

"Brush Electrical Machines failed to utilise a safe system of work, something which they could easily have done. The failings by both companies resulted in a man suffering painful injuries which has cost him his job as a lorry driver.”