Employee injured in health and safety breach at farm
In North Devon, an employee incident occurred that has led to a fine for the animal feed company. The worker fell fracturing his skull. The incident occurred in 2011. Richard Robinson was 64 at the time of his accident. He was trying to get some recycled material crushed when the fall occurred. He fell from a forklift due to health and safety breaches at the mill.
The HSE examined the workspace for workstation risk assessments and safety procedures. Upon finding issues with the factory, they decided to send the case for prosecution. The court heard that workers created their own system for getting onto the large bags of recycled material by being lifted in the air by a forklift. It was the only way to reach the tall pile to help trample the material into the bags. The company did not offer a better system. This is why the workers created their own methods. If the company had provided a safe system to conduct the work in a controlled manner the incident wherein Robinson fell would not have occurred. The fine they must pay is £6,000 with £1,200 in additional costs.
The HSE spokesperson stated that any system would have been better than what the workers came up with, where they were suspended in the air to trample the recycled material. The company should have conducted health and safety assessments and corrected any lack thereof. One hopes that the incident will help other companies realise the safety importance in the workplace.
