Untrained worker overturns telehandler

Untrained worker overturns telehandler

A construction firm has been fined £4500 after an untrained worker was seriously injured when the forklift truck telehandler he was operating overturned.

Tom Lincoln, 39, was working as a ground-worker for Meldrum Construction Services Ltd during the construction of a residential property at Sandhoe, near Corbridge, in Northumberland.

On 16 July 2008, Mr Lincoln was operating a forklift to lift roof trusses on to the roof of the development. Two of his colleagues unloaded the trusses, which had been held in place by a canvas strap. They then hung the strap over the vehicle’s boom and signalled to Mr Lincoln to lower the arm of the machine. In order to avoid the strap snagging on the scaffolding, Mr Lincoln extended and raised the boom. The vehicle, however was parked on an incline, so when the boom was extended, the weight of the telehandler become unevenly distributed, and caused it to fall on its side.

Mr Lincoln was not wearing a seat belt, and was thrown against the machine’s window and controls. He suffered multiple fractures to his right arm, which has left him with limited mobility in his shoulder. He is still receiving treatment for his injuries and has been unable to return to work.

HSE construction inspector, John McGill, said: “Mr Lincoln has suffered long-term injuries as a result of this serious incident. Meldrum Construction Services Ltd failed to ensure that Mr Lincoln had the necessary training to use the machine, and had not reviewed its processes to ensure that unauthorised personnel did not have access to specialist machinery on site.”

The comany appeared at Tynedale Magistrates’ Court in Hexham, on 7 January, and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. In addition to the fine, it was also ordered to pay £2342 in costs.

The firm mitigated that it had no previous convictions and has improved supervision to ensure that only trained workers can operate forklifts. It has now put in place a system that assigns trained drivers to a numbered machine. This system is said to be closely monitored to ensure that only the assigned driver operates each machine.

Inspector McGill concluded: “While the company had produced a risk assessment and a system of work for lifting the roof trusses, neither were sufficient, and had failed to identify the dangers that workers would face.”