August 2012 News SAFETY Warehouseman crushed to death


An Essex granite manufacturer has been sentenced for safety failings after a worker was crushed to death by stone slabs. Martin Rice, 57, was unloading a delivery of manufactured stone weighing three tonnes, and placing it on storage A-frames in a warehouse, when the incident occurred at The Stone Company UK Ltd in April 2009. As he lowered a bundle of 11 slabs, the bundle fell over and crushed him against the wall of the building. Mr Rice, a father-of-four, died of his injuries at the scene. Chelmsford Crown Court heard that HSE investigated the death and found that The Stone Company had operated an unsafe system of work for handling and storing stone slabs. The A-frames in use were poorly sited and, as such, were inappropriate within the confines of the warehouse.


The company pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay


INDUSTRY Jungheinrich appoints new sales director


Jungheinrich UK Ltd has appointed Jonathan Morris to the position of sales director – corporate accounts. Jonathan replaces the departing Bill Goodwin, who joins Briggs Equipment. Jonathan has extensive experience of the materials handling and logistics industry and has held senior national


IMHX NEWS Record month for Sperrin


Sperrin Metal Storage Solutions recently announced record breaking monthly sales. The IMHX exhibitor secured orders of £1.5m, the largest monthly total since it was founded 50


years ago.


The largest single order was a £0.5m contract for pallet racking in a new distribution centre by a major European clothing retailer. It follows on from


several similar such projects which Sperrin has completed in the last year- and-a-half for the same retailer. Other large orders included a substantial investment by a global supplier of polythene films for adjustable pallet racking and drive-in racking together with a mezzanine floor.


www.shdlogistics.com


Director of sales, Patrick McAllister, said: “It is a great testament to both our sales and production teams that such orders can be secured in the current difficult economic environment and then manufactured to a standard that meets all their expectations." www.sperrin-metal.com


Storage Handling Distribution August 2012 9


and international sales roles with a number of key suppliers to the sector. “I am relishing the challenge of developing Jungheinrich’s dominant market position as one of the UK’s leading suppliers of fork lift trucks and other materials handling solutions,” said Jonathan.


Hans-Herbert Schultz, managing director of Jungheinrich UK Ltd, commented: “We are very happy to be able to welcome Jonathan into this extremely important role within our organisation. It is pleasing to appoint someone of Jonathan’s calibre.” www.jungheinrich.co.uk


costs of £40,000.


HSE inspector Richard Rajham said: “The system of work for handling slabs of stone was dangerous, and Martin’s death could have been avoided with some simple modifications to the layout of the storage area and to the storage equipment being used. It is vital that work of this nature is carefully planned and monitored, and that employee safety is of paramount importance at all times.” In a separate hearing, Watford Magistrates’ Court heard a fork lift truck driver working for Cadogan Tate Head Office and Treasury Service Ltd could have been seriously injured or even killed when the vehicle he was operating overturned at a warehouse in Hemel Hempstead.


The worker was using the truck to align a 1.5t storage container on top of a stack of containers when it overturned in April 2011. His employer was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after its investigation found the container was


more than two-and-a-half times the safe lifting capacity of the forklift. The court heard that one of Cadogan


Tate’s employees had used the fork lift truck to lift the storage container, which was filled with books and magazines, on top of a stack of three other containers the day before the incident. As he lifted it, the rear wheel on the left-hand side of the truck lifted off the ground and the container was left overhanging the top of the stack, more than 7m in the air. The following day, a supervisor was asked to assess if the fork lift truck could be returned to a stable position and the overhanging container aligned. He strapped himself in and tried to move the container. The forklift overturned. Thankfully, he escaped without any injuries. Cadogan Tate admitted breaching the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to provide suitable work equipment. It also pleaded guilty to a breach of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment


Regulations 1998 after it failed to make sure the work was planned and carried out safety. It was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £3,860 in prosecution costs.


The investigating inspector at HSE, Sandra Dias, said: “The worker at the Cadogan Tate warehouse was lucky not to have been seriously injured or even to have lost his life as a result of the fork lift truck overturning. The company specialises in storage and removals, and so it regularly uses fork lift trucks to move containers. It made a basic error by failing to assess the weight of the container before allowing it to be lifted.


“The container was much heavier than most of the others at the warehouse, and the contents should have been split before it was stacked. Sadly, overturned vehicles cause several deaths in British workplaces every year. Employers must do more to make sure lives aren’t put at risk.”


www.hse.gov.uk


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