Health and safety audit after forklift driver injured
A warehouse worker in Hemel Hempstead was injured during a forklift incident. The driver overturned the forklift while using it in the warehouse. The incident could have resulted in death or major injury. This is why the HSE decided the company needed to be prosecuted. The employee was trying to align a one and a half tonne container on top of a stack of storage containers. The forklift overturned due to an imbalance of weight. The incident occurred in 2011 and brought the HSE in for health and safety audits. Cadogan Tate Head Office and Treasure Service were found to breach health and safety laws because the container was more than two times heavier than was safe for lifting with the machinery.
The container was filled with books and magazines and was to be placed on top of a stack of three already put in place the day before. The rear wheels of the forklift left the ground as the truck lifted the container and this is why it toppled over. Pure luck enabled the individual to leave the forklift before being injured. Had proper safety methods been in place, the worker would not have been in any danger. The company will have to pay £15,000 in fines and £3,860 in court costs. They were guilty of breaching regulations from 1998 about work equipment use. Any time a company has to use machines at work they need to ensure proper safety measures are in place.
