Bicycle manufacturer Raleigh have pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the health and safety of one of their employees, after an accident in which one of their employees was killed at work.
The 59 year old employee died at Raleigh’s Eastwood site in 2007 after he crashed a fork lift truck causing him to be flung out of the truck, where he was then crushed by girders and rubble knocked down by the impact – causing him to suffer multiple injuries, including a fractured spine and a torn aorta valve in his heart. The worker was alive at the scene when medical staff attended, and was airlifted to Queens Medical Centre hospital where he later died from his injuries.
The employee had been an experienced driver of fork lift trucks and, although there were no witnesses to the actual accident, it is understood that he was driving the truck with the forks raised, which is against company health and safety policy, and as a result hit the top of a low doorway. However, evidence submitted in Court showed that there had been 2 other previous incidents involving fork lift trucks and a health and safety expert who examined the scene concluded that there had been a foreseeable risk of the accident happening. The depot manager admitted that he had failed to anticipate the accident; however he also accused the local authority inspectors and an independent expert of failing to spot the danger.
Raleigh had previously denied charges, but changed their plea to guilty after legal submissions; and received a £72,000 fine when sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court. Since the accident, Raleigh have implemented a number of health and safety measures in an attempt to avoid a repeat of this tragic accident, including raising the height of all doorways; however this will be seen as too little too late and scant consolation to the family of this particular worker.
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