A court has fined John Lewis PLC £1.2m after an agency worker suffered serious injuries at its warehouse in Magna Park in 2022.  The incident took place in February 2022 and resulted in the worker falling from steps over a conveyor belt. The small steps were without handrails, presenting a significant risk of slips, trips and falls, which was exacerbated by confined headspace.

A company has been fined £1.6m after a 24-year-old man was crushed to death.  Jack Phillips lost his life on 8 August 2019 while working for Brand Energy and Infrastructure Services UK Ltd at South Cliff Tower in Eastbourne.  Jack had been assisting while temporary Mast Climber Work Platform sections were being lifted by a lorry mounted crane.  The load fell on top of Jack when the lifting sling which was attached to the crane snapped.

A plastics manufacturer in Kent has been fined £400,000 after an employee was seriously injured by a forklift truck.  The man was struck by the vehicle while walking to collect materials at FloPlast Limited’s site at Eurolink Business Park on 4 July 2023.

Merchant Homes Partnership has been prosecuted under the CDM Regulations after a worker was killed by a telehandler at a house build site in Glasgow, Scotland.  Scott Bradley had been using the vehicle to move scaffolding behind houses that had been partially built. The telehandler’s wheels went over the edge of the traffic route while it was reversing, causing it to slide down an embankment and overturn.

MD Safety comment:  This case highlights the need for clear procedures for the use of work equipment as well as the need to ensure suitable arrangements for inexperienced workers.

A Manchester-based engineering company has been fined £500,000 after a young apprentice lost the use of two fingers when using a horizontal bandsaw. The apprentice, who was just 18 at the time, suffered the serious injuries to his fingers in an incident at Proline Engineering Limited in Worsely, on 7 November 2022. While one finger was severed completely, the other was surgically re-attached.

MD Safety comment: Another unfortunate case whereby the interface between pedestrians and vehicles has not been maintained.

A construction company has been fined £160,000 after a man was killed by a telehandler at a house build site in Glasgow.  Scott Bradley had been reversing the vehicle at the Stepford Road site when it slid down an embankment and overturned on 11 May 2022.

The owner of Ginsters has been fined £1.28 million after an employee was killed by a lorry that was delivering supplies to the bakery where it makes its pasties.  Paul Clarke was fatally crushed on 2 December 2021 after being struck by the vehicle as it reversed into a loading bay at The Cornwall Bakery, Callington, operated by Samworth Brothers.

A father-of-three was left paralysed from the chest down after falling through a ceiling at a house renovation in Derbyshire.  Chesterfield builder Andrew Clifford remained lying face down on the floor for around six hours before he was found by a delivery driver. He judged the time by hearing hourly news bulletins from his radio.

A company has been fined £80,000 after an employee sustained a fractured skull at its site in Glasgow.  In addition to a fractured skull, the worker sustained a broken clavicle, a ripped earlobe and haematomas down his right side, caused by being struck by a telehandler bucket while working at Grayshill Limited on 19 October 2022.

A construction company has been fined £215,000 after a roofer was thrown from a cherry picker when it was hit by a double decker bus in Glasgow.  The worker fell on a parked car and then on the pavement in the incident in Castlemilk on 4 February, 2022.  He was left with serious and permanent injuries.