Concrete firm fined after worker hit by forklift
Elite Precast Concrete Ltd prosecuted after worker suffers serious injuries to foot, ankle and knee
SHROPSHIRE-based Elite Precast Concrete Ltd have been prosecuted after a worker suffered serious leg injuries when he was hit by a fork-lift truck.
Tomasz Kosmacz, who was responsible for removing excess concrete from moulds at the company’s factory in Telford, was putting the excess concrete in a bucket and then on to the prongs of the forklift when he was struck by the vehicle.
Mr Kosmacz suffered multiple foot fractures, needed four screws in his broken ankle and also hurt his knee. He had to have two operations and is still unable to work following the incident on 7 July 2011.
Telford Magistrates heard that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had found a written instruction in the factory stating the bucket should be placed on a pallet, not directly on the forks, but this had not been translated into Polish for the benefit of the migrant labour the company employed, many of whom, including Mr Kosmacz, did not speak English.
Elite Precast Concrete Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The firm was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,897.
After the hearing, HSE Inspector Katharine Walker said: ‘This incident was entirely preventable. Had the instruction requiring the use of a pallet to move the waste been translated into Polish and effectively communicated to the workers, Mr Kosmacz would not have had to endure these painful injuries.
‘Elite Precast Concrete Ltd took no effective steps to prevent this incident. They relied heavily on migrant labour but lacked the arrangements to allow those workers to enjoy the expected level of safety.
‘The company had allowed an unsafe custom and practice to develop. There was no effective segregation of vehicles and pedestrians, and the means of transporting the waste concrete was bound to bring the two into contact.
‘Mr Kosmacz had been working in this manner for a number of weeks – it was not a single error on a single day; there was an inevitability that someone was going to get hurt.’
