Posted By Jane Watts
Four-metre fall from forklift lands firm in court



A MAN received multiple fractures and bruising after he fell from a metal product cage balanced on the forks of a forklift truck.



Kent-based manufacturer Cellecta was fined £5000 by Mid Kent magistrates on 25 May after pleading guilty to a breach of s2(1) of the HSWA in not ensuring its employees’ safety.


The court heard that on 23 September 2003, Daniel Kinlan had been employed by the company as a fabricator. Kinlan and his colleagues decided to use a forklift truck to gain access to an industrial dust-removing vacuum machine, situated four metres up on a wall, and which had become blocked the week before the accident.


Kinlan climbed into a product cage, which had no locking device to hold it to the forks. As he was trying to reach into the extractor to clear it out, he fell, sustaining fractures to both wrists and right elbow and bruising to his left leg.


"There was nothing to stop the cage from tilting," Jan Combs, the HSE inspector who investigated and prosecuted the case told SHP.


In mitigation, Cellecta said it had bought the extractor machine in the belief that it was self-cleaning. It felt that Kinlan was willing to go up on the forklift, as his two colleagues were scared of heights. "However, he wasn’t aware of the risks," Combs told SHP. The company has since taken steps to improve health and safety procedures.


"It is perfectly foreseeable that access to the elevated hatchway would be required, so the employer should have ensured that a safe means of access was supplied," she commented. "Cellecta failed to take effective measures to prevent falls from height. Last year, over 40 employees were killed in accidents involving falls from height. This accident could easily have been avoided if the company had completed a risk assessment."


Full HSE costs of £823 were awarded against the company.