A Suffolk-based freight company has been sentenced for a
series of safety breaches after a forklift truck toppled and spilled its load
onto a worker, breaking his back.
Neil Jennings, 56, of Ipswich, was waiting for his trailer
to be loaded in the yard of Eagle Freight Terminal Ltd at its Great Blakenham
premises when one of the forklifts doing the loading hit a pothole. The vehicle
lurched sideways, shedding its pallets and boxes, one of which hit Mr Jennings.
He suffered multiple fractures to the vertebrae of his upper
and middle back and was unable to work for several weeks. Mr Jennings can now
only undertake light duties and can no longer carry out everyday tasks without
pain and discomfort. IOSH
Managing Safely
The incident, on 9 January 2012, was investigated by the
Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which today prosecuted Eagle Freight
Terminal Ltd at Ipswich Magistrates' Court.
HSE found that the freight yard road surface was pitted with
potholes and had been the subject of complaints by the company's employees over
a significant period. There was little management of traffic movements and no
instructions provided regarding segregation of workplace transport and
pedestrians.
The court was told that two Improvement Notices were served
by HSE on Eagle Freight after the incident requiring them to remedy the
condition of the yard's surface and to introduce systems of control which would
allow vehicles and pedestrians to circulate safely at the site. Despite two
extensions of time to allow the remedial work to be completed, an inspection
carried out in September 2012 revealed no work had been completed and neither
of the Notices had been complied with.
Ipswich Magistrates' Court heard that the company had been
subject to similar enforcement action by HSE as far back as 2002/3 about the
lack of control of workplace transport
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