A Swindon-based equipment hire company has been fined for continuing unsafe working practices and ignoring safety warnings from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Chippenham Magistrates Court heard, on 15 May, that HSE served four Improvement Notices on Rapid Hire (Swindon) Ltd. on 12 October 2011 for failing to provide adequate training for operators of forklift trucks and telehandlers, and for failing to provide proper inspections for equipment that was available for hire.
The purpose of the Notices was to protect employees and customers from potential injury. When a HSE inspector returned to the company three months later to check compliance, he discovered that dangerous practices were continuing and three of the Notices had been ignored.
Rapid Hire, of 14 Devizes Road, Swindon, was found guilty of three separate breaches of Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for failing to comply with the notices. The company was fined a total of £800 and ordered to pay £1,215.95 in costs.