Construction company sees health and safety fine for injury
Dangers in the work place create situations where workers could be potentially injured. It is up to the employer to examine the work place for any risks that exist. Speaking with a consultant is one way to make certain the workstation risk assessments are complete so that they may be followed. Unfortunately, there was a health and safety breach at one construction company. A worker’s foot was injured because of foot traffic being in an area of moving vehicles.
The incident happened in 2011 in a situation where the worker had his foot run over by a lorry on site. The worker was doing his job when the lorry moving through the site was too close, creating the issue. The truck was heading to a compacting machine with stone. The driver of the truck was trying to make his way around the site and obstacles when he was unable to see the worker nearby. The worker tried to avoid the incident, but was unable to move quickly enough to avoid the foot injury. He had at least four broken bones in his foot that took quite a while to heal. The firm did admit to breaches with health and safety, most particularly violation of Section 22 and Section 3.
The firm has been charged £10,000 for the incident along with a little over half the amount in court costs. Incidents such as these happen more often than they should. This is why the HSE is very careful in their audits.
