A trailer company has been fined £30,000 after an employee fell from height, suffering a fractured pelvis and head injury.
Adrian Baker, from Peterborough, had been cleaning rubbish at N B Sanders (Trailers) Limited’s site in Peterborough when he fell approximately eight feet on 15 October 2021. The rubbish had spilled out of a lorry and was being placed in a hired skip.
The 51-year-old was raised above the skip by a forklift truck operated by a colleague. Mr Baker was standing on an unsecured platform made out of a stillage.
He fell onto the ground when the stillage came off the truck’s forks, sustaining a fractured pelvis and head injury. Mr Baker can now no longer work in the profession he has been in since he was 16 and has since developed a stammer that has impacted his ability to communicate.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that N B Sanders (Trailers) Limited failed to conduct any checks to determine competency of staff for the use of forklift trucks or to work at height. The company failed to follow freely available guidance which resulted in an inappropriate item being used as a lifting cage for lifting persons.
HSE guidance can be found at: Work at height – HSE
N B Sanders (Trailers) Limited, of Werrington Bridge Road, Milking, Nook, Peterborough, pleaded guilty to beaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £4,468.80 in costs at Luton Magistrates’ Court on 17 May 2024.
HSE inspector Sarah Bird said: “A different and simple approach of using more suitable equipment, such as a fork-mounted wheelie bin handler to tip the rubbish directly into the skip, could have eliminated any work at height.”
This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Samantha Wells.
Notes to editors:
- The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
- More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
- Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.