health & safety news l FLTA nominated for RoSPA award
The Fork Lift Truck Association (FLTA) has been nominated for a prestigious national award from RoSPA – the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
The new SME category of the annual RoSPA Awards recognises “the most outstanding contribution made by a trade association or similar body to providing health and safety assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises”. The main aim of the FLTA is to ensure that its core members, fork lift truck dealers and maintenance companies, operate to a high standard. The majority of FLTA members are SMEs and the safety of their service engineers is paramount. This work has gone on quietly behind the scenes for almost 40 years.
In recent years the work of the FLTA – the UK’s leading independent authority on fork lift trucks – has expanded to include the thousands of users of fork lift trucks.
Many of these companies are SMEs. Through a Safe User Group they have regular access to safety related
information. Now, with the establishment of a national Safety Week, much of this information and advice has been made freely available on a massive scale. Fork lift trucks are by far the most dangerous vehicles in the working environment, accounting for more than double the number of workplace accidents involving cars.
However, since the introduction in 2008 of the FLTA’s Safety Week – an awareness campaign involving high- profile news stories and free materials including posters, training videos, presentations and safety checklists – fork truck-related accidents have fallen year-on-year.
Alongside this campaign, the Association shares regular advice and information on safety-related issues through trade magazines throughout the year – aiming not just at the
Company fined £400,000 for death of worker
A Llanelli-based automotive manufacturer has been fined £400,000 after an employee died on the day he was to take voluntary redundancy. Father-of-two, Darren Small, 35, from Loughor was employed by Calsonic Kansei UK Limited when he was struck by a fork lift truck on 17th March 2008. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found Mr Small had gone onto the factory floor to issue instruction to a fork lift truck operator. As Mr Small finished speaking, the fork lift truck reversed into him, knocking him to the ground. He sustained fatal head injuries, and died in hospital three days later. Calsonic Kansei UK Limited pleaded guilty to a charges under Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and at Swansea Crown Court, the company were fined £400,000 and ordered to pay £44,790.14 costs. HSE inspector Stephen Jones said: "It's fairly routine for fork lift trucks to operate within the same area as pedestrians in this industry. However, working procedures and systems need to be in place to prevent vehicles colliding with people. “This tragic incident could have been avoided had all contractors and employees been aware of the risks, and had the safety procedures been taken to avoid such risks."
Mr Small's family issued the following statement: "Darren was such a fabulous, lovely and kind-hearted person and a really devoted father. To die on the day he was due to have taken voluntary redundancy is even more tragic. Time does not heal. We all miss him so very much and his children are still finding it extremely hard to cope with losing their loving father.
"We hope employers hearing this case will have more regard for health and safety in future as no other family should go through what we have had to endure - losing such a wonderful person from our lives."
16 ShD May 2011
www.PressOnShD.com
materials handling sector, but anywhere fork lift trucks are commonly used, such as the rail or building trades. It also publishes a wide range of safety literature specifically for SMEs who may need assistance in working out what legislation applies to them, and how to operate according to best practice.
Meanwhile, a dedicated Safe User Group gives safety-aware firms fast, cost-effective access to high quality, up- to-the-minute advice. The cumulative result is an improvement in accident figures that contrasts sharply with other forms of workplace transport, such as Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs). over the same period, removing any suggestion that external factors such as the economic downturn might have reduced risks. Analysis on the HSE website reads:
“The number of accidents involving LGVs has remained broadly flat over recent years, but the number of FLT injuries fell sharply over the last year, leaving it 13% below that in 2001/02 for the first time.”
Most strikingly, fork lift truck-related deaths and injuries among members of the public plummeted to a full 59% below the average; a statistic the FLTA hopes is a reflection upon the broad targeting of its safety message. Early indications suggest 2009/2010 saw a continued drop in accidents. Chief executive of the FLTA David Ellison says: “We are extremely pleased to be selected as one of the six nominees for the SME Award. We share as much free safety guidance as possible in the public arena, and offer our Safe User Group a superb service for just a few pounds a month… so it’s gratifying to see our efforts are not going unnoticed!” The RoSPA SME Award winner will be revealed in mid-May at a glamorous Awards ceremony at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole.
www.fork-truck.org.uk
Forklift topples over in hands of unqualified driver
As we closed for press, two companies were due to be sentenced for a "catalogue of breaches" of health and safety rules after a teenager was seriously injured when a fork lift truck toppled over.
Plymouth magistrates heard that 17-year-old trainee Tom Davis broke his pelvis when the vehicle capsized as he changed light bulbs 20ft above a warehouse floor. The court was told a colleague at the wheel had no qualification to drive the fork lift truck. Mr Davis was in a cage strapped to the raised forks of the vehicle at the time of the
accident.
His employer, CL Electrical Solutions Ltd, admitted failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees. The warehouse owner, haulage company HT Gardner, admitted breaching its duty to protect non-employees carrying out work on its premises. Magistrates ruled that the case was so serious that it should be heard at Plymouth Crown Court. Presiding magistrate Jennifer Hulbert said: "We consider there was a catalogue of breaches by individuals at both defendant companies where serious injuries were sustained."
Steve Panton, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said that Crownhill- based CL Electrical Solutions sent two of its trainees to change light bulbs and clean plastic light covers. Mr Davis and 21-year-old colleague Adam Baldock attended the HT Gardner warehouse at Newnham Industrial Estate without anyone supervising them on August 7, 2009, the court heard.
Mr Panton said that Mr Baldock drove Mr Davis in a 'man cage' strapped to the raised forks of one of HT Gardner's vehicles. He added that during the job, which took more than 90 minutes, Mr Baldock drove from light to light without lowering the forks. Mr Panton said: "Due to its raised centre of gravity, the whole truck went over on its side." He added that Mr Davis fractured his pelvis in two places.
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