Published: Tuesday, 25th July 2017
Cannock Chase Council has successfully prosecuted a housewares company after an employee suffered life-changing injuries following a fall from storage racking.
The warehouse manager had been working on storage racking having gained access using only a pallet raised on a forklift truck, a highly dangerous practice. The employee had one foot on the racking and the other on the pallet when the pallet gave way, causing him to fall 15 feet onto a concrete floor. He was airlifted to Hospital and placed in a medical induced coma for 11 days. Although he survived, the employee has life-changing injuries and now suffers from a range of complications, meaning he is unlikely ever to work again.
Probus Creative Housewares Limited, a supplier of housewares to national retailers formerly of Virage Park, Bridgtown, Cannock, pleaded guilty on 5 June 2017 at Newcastle under Lyme Magistrates Court to four charges under health and safety laws, including failure to ensure the safety of employees, inadequate risk assessments, failure to train the injured employee and failure to properly plan and supervise work at height. Director Srdjan Urosevic, resident in Germany, also pleaded guilty to two charges.
Passing sentence at Newcastle under Lyme Magistrates Court, District Judge McGarva said “Falls from height are a major cause of workplace injuries and death in Britain. This incident resulted from long standing failures to improve health and safety, despite warnings from both the Council and the Company’s insurers.”
After taking into account financial circumstances, mitigation and early guilty pleas on 14 July 2017 the Judge imposed fines and costs totalling £260,000 on the Company and £30,000 on Mr Urosevic.
Councillor Muriel Davis Health and Wellbeing Portfolio Leader said “The Council expects that all employers will take reasonable precautions to ensure employees’ health, safety and welfare. Employees have a right to expect they will be protected from risks and return home safe from work. This accident happened because of poor health and safety and has had tragic consequences for the employee and his family. I hope these sentences will serve to highlight the importance to all employers of ensuring basic health and safety precautions are in place.”