Risk assessment 'could have avoided accident'
Commercial insurance
15th May 2009
An effective risk assessment may have helped avoid an accident which resulted in an employee having to have a leg amputated, it has been claimed.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Samantha Farrar was referring to an incident in which an object weighing 1.8 tonnes fell on a worker as he was carrying out repairs on a forklift truck.
"The incident resulted from an unsafe system of work," she commented, adding: "The weight was not supported during removal and the person carrying out the repair had been given insufficient information and instruction."
As a result of the accident, Peter Mellor, an agricultural contractor, was fined a total of £12,000 and told to pay £2,500 in costs.
The firm admitted breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Recently, the HSE launched a new strategy aimed at highlighting ways for UK businesses to improve their health and safety records.
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