Worker hurt loading concrete panels onto sideloader
A company manufacturing precast concrete panels was fined after a worker was injured while loading freestanding concrete units onto a vehicle.
Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard how on 8th August 2014 a contractor working for Unbrako Precast Concrete of Langar was loading freestanding concrete units onto his vehicle using a sideloader.
He was unscrewing a lifting shackle from the top of the concrete units when an attachment slid off the forks of the sideloader. The attachment struck him, knocking him off the vehicle. He suffered a broken collar bone, fractures to both shoulders and two broken ribs.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident, found that there was an inadequate risk assessment and an inadequate safe system of work.
Unbrako Precast Concrete, of Southfields Business Park, Harby Road, Langar, was fined a total of £26,000, with costs of £2,579 after pleading guilty to offences under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Lindsay Bentley said: “This incident was entirely avoidable had the risks been adequately assessed. The injured person should not have been near the moving sideloader or on the back of the trailer.”
