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Operator fined £20k over driver’s severe injuries

6th October 2011, Page 10
6th October 2011
Page 10
Page 10, 6th October 2011 — Operator fined £20k over driver’s severe injuries
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By Roger Brown

KENT-BASED cardboard box manufacturer WE Roberts (Corrugated) has been ined £20,000 following an incident in which a delivery driver suffered severe head injuries after a fall.

In a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution, Dartford Magistrates’ Court was told that the worker was delivering lat-packed cardboard boxes to an address in Eastbourne in August 2009.

The man was trying to pull a pallet of cardboard boxes across his trailer from the driver’s side to the curb side. The pallet strapping snapped and the worker fell nearly three metres backwards and then down onto the pavement.

As a result he suffered severe head injuries, which have had lifechanging effects and have meant he is still not able to return to work. WE Roberts, based in Northleet, Kent, pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was also ordered to pay costs of £12,190.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Michelle Taylor said: “The company failed to adequately consider the risks that delivery drivers face when they are not on site. “This led to this severe and entirely preventable incident, which has had such a long-lasting and devastating effect on this worker.

“The outcome of this case reinforces the responsibility that employers have to all of their workers, wherever they are, not just those on site under constant supervision.”

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Locations: Northleet

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