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Inappropriate and Dangerous behavior from Warehouse staff
Rank: Forum user 
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We have had an issue, whereby a Warehouse Staff member has tried to tamper with a forklift truck which someone is using, in order to cause the forklift truck to skid, not to mention this could have caused a much more serious accident. This was all captured on CCTV. As you can imagine this is extremely reckless and dangerous, and the warehosue staff member will be receiving displinary action.
Can anyone advise if there is any Health and Safety Law/legislation in which this employee has broken?
We want to inform him of this law when the displinary meeting is taking place, in order to educate him and make him aware. We have a risk assessments but we did not consider people being silly and reckless and its hard to mitigate and control this.
Edited by user 16 November 2021 16:25:35(UTC)
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Rank: Super forum user 
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HASAW Section 7 employees duty https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/section/7
Personally it would be instant "gross miss-conduct" dismissal along with contemplation of handing the evidence to the constabulary for potential criminal charges especially if the conduct was out of malice for the FLT driver.
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Rank: Super forum user
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HASAW Section 7 employees duty https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/section/7
Personally it would be instant "gross miss-conduct" dismissal along with contemplation of handing the evidence to the constabulary for potential criminal charges especially if the conduct was out of malice for the FLT driver.
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Rank: New forum user
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You can also state Section 8 of the Health & Safety at Work Act: Section 8 of the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 is intended to prevent the interference with or misuse of articles or equipment provided. It states that no person shall intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of health, safety or welfare.
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Rank: Super forum user
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corporate homocide - attempted wreckless endangerment...either way gross misconduct - so long as you have the right eveidence
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Rank: Super forum user
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what I meant to say was ...be very careful...employers are vicariously liable for the deeds of thier employees...just make sure you have all of your ducks in a row...as you could see a claim for unfair..and I would go down breach of company rules/ gross misconduct rather than legislation, although it is implied...use the employement contract to summary dismiss...you may find all that you can do is give the person a final written warning...
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Rank: Super forum user
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having read your post once more ...this time without wine...it really does depend on how strong you want to go here...on the surface part of gross misconduct and criminal damge (Criminal Damage Act 1971, s.1(2) and (3))..you need to establish intent....in future I would D&A test on report...there could be an underlying mental health, personal or cultural reason the attempt was made which could be more serious...which is why you keep the investigation objective and factual always...and if it points to something more serious then either help should be sought for the individual or the matter handed over to the relevant authorities...
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Rank: Super forum user
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If its as bad as you say, then you sack them and cite gross misconduct. If they whinge, mention all of the legislation above and remind them that they could be facing criminal charges and the company might sue for damage to the FLT: it need to be repaired and made safe again which is a cost against the company. Make it clear in their references why they were dismissed. That will demonstrate to everybody that that company has zero tolerance of such behaviour.
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Rank: Forum user 
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Obviously a serious breach of H & S law and certainly it could / should be a 'sackable' offence however, unless he has a track record of such behaviour, I would favour the 'educate and awareness' route you mention.
Maybe asking him to work with you safety dept and develop and present a 'powerpoint' to his colleagues on forklift safety would certainly educate him and get a clear message across to others??
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Rank: Super forum user
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How many people need to be injured before it becomes a ‘track record’ of inappropriate behaviour?
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Rank: Forum user
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Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel  How many people need to be injured before it becomes a ‘track record’ of inappropriate behaviour?
Precisely. Consider the position the company will be in if this employee is kept on, given a second chance and does something equally stupid in six months time. Any injured party and the relevent enforcing authority will be able to demonstrate a 'track record' of inappropriate inaction with all its consequences.
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Rank: Forum user
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I would ensure an investigation into the incident is conducted followed by a disciplinary hearing. Gross miscunduct and dismissal is clearly on the cards here and I would say it will all depend on the investigation and the attitude of the person. A few years ago I had somehing similar and despite having in our head that we wanted to go down the education route, during the disciplinary hearing it was evident that there was no remorse and even words to say that the person would do the same if presented with the same circumstances in the future. At that point it was clear that the most sensible and safe thing to do was to part companies with them.
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 1 user thanked Juan Carlos Arias for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I think as well, you need to set a standard for behaviour to the remaining employees. Its not ok to do something deliberately dumb even once.
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Inappropriate and Dangerous behavior from Warehouse staff
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