A plant hire company has been fined £10,000 after a 1-tonne JCB bucket fell onto a worker, leaving him with life-changing injuries.
According to a statement from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Salford Grab Hire employee was helping to repair a lifting mechanism on a tipper truck body, which was being propped up by a JCB.
The bucket fell onto him, crushing his ankle and foot and causing fractures to his hand, shoulder blade, ribs, shin and thigh, the HSE said, adding that the worker developed a blood clot on his lungs.
The HSE said the company failed to use appropriate equipment while the repairs were being carried out. The bucket being used to prop up the body did not have a quick hitch or retaining pin, causing it to become dislodged and fall, HSE investigators found.
Salford Grab Hire Ltd of Tyldesley, Wigan, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
It was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,475 at Warrington Magistrates’ Court on 27 January.
HSE inspector Rose Leese-Weller said in a statement: “Every year we see serious and sometimes fatal injuries to people working under a poorly propped vehicle body.
“Employers must not underestimate the risks involved and must ensure that appropriate equipment and systems of work are used when undertaking such work.”
HSE guidance on health and safety in motor vehicle repair and associated industries states that elevated vehicle load areas, such as those on tipper lorries, should be effectively propped if access is needed below them.
Props should only be used on firm, level ground and must be designed to adequately carry the loads put onto them.
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Ian Weinfass