Load handler fined £2,500 after crushing co-worker
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By Roger Brown
A LORRY loader handler has been ordered to pay £2,500 after a coworker was crushed in the clamp of a loader and seriously injured.
Yeovil magistrates’ court was told how in November 2010 Mark Pratten, 53, a worker at Saint Gobain Building Distribution, trading as Jewson Builders Merchant, tried to use a brick clamp on a truck crane to lift Peter Hoy, 47, a selfemployed general builder off the roof of a cabin, while he was collecting building materials from a construction site in Rode, Somerset.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation discovered the pallet of materials they were collecting was behind an 8ft wall, and it was not possible to pick them up normally with the lorry crane that the men were using.
Trying to guide the crane into place, Hoy climbed onto the roof of the cabin, and to get down quickly, Pratten tried to lift him with the grab of the crane. Hoy walked between the arms of the clamp, which was at waist height, in preparation to gain a foot or hand hold. As he did so, Pratten attempted to move the arms. However, he used the wrong switch and inadvertently operated the clamp button. The arms clamped Hoy’s waist, fracturing his pelvis and causing crush-related internal injuries, including nerve damage. His injuries were so severe that he is still off work.
An HSE investigation found that Pratten “fell far short of the appropriate standard required” of a lorry loader operator. Pratten, who has now lost his job, had more than 20 years’ experience in that line of work.
He pleaded guilty to breaching Section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was ined £1,500 with £1,000 costs.