The incident, which occurred at Preston Plastics Ltds plant in the village of Out Rawcliffe on August 18 2011, prompted an investigation when a metre-high, 400kg bale of recycled plastic toppled from a forklift truck and struck the 26-year-man.
The man was hit on his head and hands, resulting in a spinal fracture that required a back brace.
Preston Magistrates Court heard that the incident, which could have proved fatal, was caused when the driver of the forklift lifted two bales from a stack in the warehouse by clamping hold of the bottom bale, with the other one resting on top.
The court found that the firm had failed to plan the lifting operations properly so the work could be carried out safely. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution, told the court its guidance advises against using forklifts to lift two stacked, heavy items, following several deaths caused by toppling loads.
Duty
Preston Plastics Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.
HSE Inspector Rohan Lye said: “The employee at Preston Plastics was badly injured when he was struck by the 400kg bale, but his injuries could easily have been fatal.
“The firm had a legal duty to make sure the work was properly planned, supervised and carried out safely but it failed to do any of this. What’s worse is that the forklift truck was regularly used to lift two bales at once, making it almost inevitable that someone would be injured.
“The company has since changed its working practices so that the forklift truck is now only used to lift one bale at a time. If that procedure had been in place at the time of the incident, then the worker’s injuries could have been avoided.”
Dangerous
HSE also warned that the waste and recycling sector had become one of the most dangerous industries in Britain, with a death rate 16 times the national average. The latest figures show that there were 10 fatal injuries received as a result of waste activities in 2012/13 (see letsrecycle.com story).
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Preston Plastics Ltd is a fully accredited reprocessor, currently working towards ISO 14001 accreditation. The company could not be reached for comment.
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