Fine for manufacturer after forklift accident at cardboard factory05 December 2012

Cardboard manufacturer Smurfit Kappa has been fined £8,000 plus £14,000 costs after forklift reversed and hit a worker at its Caerphilly factory.

Michael Jones was inspecting production in an area of the factory when the incident happened on 11 April 2011. The court heard that the forklift truck was reversing around a storage area to drop off an empty pallet when it struck him. Although the forklift was travelling at a slow speed, Jones suffered a broken ankle and fractured heel, and subsequently developed deep vein thrombosis.

An HSE investigation found that the forklift was fitted with reversing alarms, but these could not be heard over the noise in the production area. No other safety measures were used, such as mirrors or flashing lights on the vehicles.

Although Smurfit Kappa had a transport policy, it had not adequately assessed the risk to all pedestrians and there were inadequate measures in place to separate pedestrians from forklift vehicles in the production area, said the HSE. Despite the transport policy highlighting the need for other safety devices such as mirrors, these were not fitted to the vehicles.

Dean Baker, HSE inspector, said: "Employers must ensure that they assess the movement of vehicles and, where possible, segregate pedestrians to eliminate the risk. If this is not possible, measures such as audible reversing alarms, mirrors, flashing lights and clearly marked pedestrian zones should be considered to prevent future injuries and fatalities."

Laura Cork

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