Firm fined after worker paralysedA housing company is facing a bill in excess of £46,000 after an employee was left quadriplegic following a workplace accident.
Anton Burrows, 24, from Dewsbury, was helping the driver of a telescopic forklift move a 660-pound steel beam on to two pillars when the vehicle dislodged the pylon and sent it crashing down on top of him.
Mr Burrows suffered extensive spinal damage, was paralysed from the waist down and will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Strata Homes, of Quay Point, Lakeside, Doncaster, had failed to organise the project properly.
The company was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £16,062 in costs after pleading guilty to a breach of health and safety regulations.
HSE Inspector Alasdair Green said: "Had the lifting operation been properly planned and supervised, in line with the regulations, the Approved Code of Practice and HSE's guidance, this devastating incident which could have very easily killed someone, would have been avoided."
Copyright © Press Association 2010
Tim Beasley, Partner with Levenes solicitors Birmingham Office who specialize in workplace accidents like this comments on this story.
The interesting feature of this case is the cost to the company of the prosecution appears to be in the region of £46,000. For Mr Burrows, this event will have been life changing and it is hard to put a figure on that. That will be the job of his legal team, but meanwhile it is worth reflecting that with a little planning by his employer injury would not have occurred. The fine does not really seem adequate, but one would suppose that a higher fine could put the jobs of the employees at risk. It is to be hoped that the company learns the lessons so that no colleagues of Mr Burrows suffer a similar fate.
This case is is a common example of how poor planning of a job involving lifting heavy weights can have terrible consequences and is all too common in industry today.
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