Worker injured due to safety failings at concrete manufacturer
Company fined £26,000 after contractor suffers broken bones while loading concrete units on to lorry
A COMPANY that manufactures precast concrete panels has been fined £26,000 after a worker was injured while loading free-standing concrete units on to a vehicle.
Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 8 August 2014, a contractor working for Langar-based Unbrako Precast Concrete Ltd was loading the concrete units on to his vehicle using a sideloader.
As he was unscrewing a lifting shackle from the top of the concrete units, an attachment slid off the forks of the sideloader and struck him, knocking him off the vehicle. He suffered a broken collar bone, fractures to both shoulders and two broken ribs.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that there was an inadequate risk assessment and an inadequate safe system of work.
Unbrako Precast Concrete were fined a total of £26,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,579 after pleading guilty to offences under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Lindsay Bentley said: ‘This incident was entirely avoidable had the risks been adequately assessed. The injured person should not have been near the moving sideloader or on the back of the trailer.’
