SIG Trading Limited has been fined after a worker was seriously injured when he was run over twice by a forklift truck.
Livingston Sheriff Court heard a SIG Trading Ltd forklift driver was moving a large metal coil with a forklift truck inside the company's warehouse on Houston Industrial Estate.
The court was told the metal coil was loaded and as the forks were in the raised position, the driver's vision was restricted. The driver was unaware two other employees were in the warehouse but as he drove the truck forward two or three metres, he became aware of a colleague shouting and indicating to him to reverse.
Unaware he had already hit one of the workers knocking him to the ground and running over his right leg, he then reversed the truck over his co-worker's leg once again.
The warehouse was shared by SIG Trading Limited and another subsidiary company based on the same site. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed no arrangements were in place in the warehouse to keep pedestrians and vehicles apart and vehicles from both companies moved freely around that part of the site.
HSE found employees had not received training on transport issues, no consideration had been given to operational restrictions caused by the use of the type of forklift truck for which employees had not had refresher retraining. Simple measures like issuing high-visibility garments for use in the warehouse had not been carried out.
At Livingston Sheriff Court yesterday (22 August 2011) SIG Trading Limited, of Hillsborough Works, Langsett Road, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act and was fined £36,000.