Recently we featured a Latest News article titled “Use of Seat Belts on Forklift Trucks” However, we keep hearing of forklift truck accidents where the operator is not wearing the seat belt. This month we hear about another fatal forklift truck accident at an Oldham based haulage company, Chorlton Express Transport Limited.
While Ian Dawson, aged 60, was loading pallets onto the HGV on 19 November 2020, the heavy goods vehicle moved forward causing the forklift truck to overturn.
Ian Dawson was trapped under the forklift truck and died as a result of his injuries. He was not wearing a seat belt.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Chorlton Express Transport Limited failed to implement sufficient safe systems of work in place regarding vehicle movements and also failed to ensure that all forklift truck operators are compelled to wear seat belts. If Mr Dawson was wearing a seat belt, there is a high probability that this would have saved his life as he would have been confined to the cab of the forklift truck when it overturned and hence would not have been trapped under the vehicle.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £86,710 and ordered to pay £5,903 costs at a hearing at Manchester Magistrates Court on 17 April 2024.
After the hearing HSE inspector Jane Carroll said: “The importance of wearing seatbelts cannot be stressed enough.
The failures meant the company exposed employees, and others, to the risk of being struck or caught by workplace vehicles.
All work settings that use a forklift truck to load or unload goods, need to consider the risks arising from their use, and implement adequate measures to ensure the safety of those involved in these activities”.
Ruth Wallace of Wallace Forklift Training London said “it is heart wrenching to hear from Mr Dawson’s partner, Jane Medhurst and her daughter about their loss. To see someone off to work and never to return due to an avoidable accident is beyond my comprehension”
Other News
In another accident involving a forklift truck, Haldane Fisher Limited was fined £380,000. Mr Timothy Bates was delivering fuel for a temporary diesel generator. He had been stowing equipment in a trailer attached to his truck when the vehicle was struck by a forklift truck reversing out of a nearby mill. This led to the trailer shunting into Mr Bates, who then fell and hit his head onto the tarmac floor below. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and suffers from memory loss and dizziness. Haldane Fisher Limited, pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Wallace School of Transport including Forklift Training in London is a fully accredited RTITB company with over 60 years’ experience. You can be trained either at your own work site or at Wallace Centre in Park Royal. If you have any questions, call Wallace Forklift Training on 020 8453 3440, choose option 3 or click here to email us.