B&Q fails to heed forklift parking warnings

27 January 2015

The DIY retailer was fined £83,500 after a worker suffered crush injuries from a pedestrian forklift at an in-store warehouse in West London.

B&Q had previously pleaded guilty to three health and safety offences relating to the company's failure to provide arrangements for parking the forklift at its Yeading store.

Operating the pedestrian forklift in limited space, the worker pulled the vehicle towards its parking space, trapping herself between a wall and the vehicle.

The incident occured on November 20, 2013. B&Q failed to consider the risk of reverse parking the forklift in a confined space and had failed to heed warnings.

 

The Handling & Storage Solutions Safer Logistics Campaign

Handling & Storage Solutions has launched the Safer Logistics campaign to promote health and safety awareness in logistics in 2014.

We were inspired to launch the campaign by the Health and Safety Executive encouraging all stakeholders to show leadership and ‘be part of the solution’.

It is vital to push home the message that poor health & safety practices have no place in the modern logistics world.

What you can do

Clear safety first principles are worth repeating.

- If you doubt the safety of a working practice, stop. Talk to your supervisor or manager and agree a safe way of proceeding. Don’t carry on and hope for the best.

- No matter who you are in the management structure or workforce, take responsibility for your safety, don’t assume someone else has taken care of it.

Safety in Partnership

In 2015, we are running a series of features in our magazine and across our digital platforms focusing on a number of key safety areas in association with valued industry partners.

January: Safety in Handling

February: Safety in Storage

March: Safety in the Warehouse

April: Safety In Transit

May: Loading Bay Safety

June: Safety Training

July / August: Forklift Safety

September: Safety in Flooring

October: Safety in Automation

November / December: Safety in Maintenance

Contact Angela Lyus on 07818 574304 / [email protected] for more details.