TWO businesses, including one from Brighouse, were fined a total tallying over £50,000 after an HGV driver injured his neck when he was struck by heavy pallets. 

Last month, a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Brighouse Pallet Services Ltd and West Yorkshire's Seal It Services Ltd failed in their duty to provide a safe system of work.

Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard that on August 5, 2020, the delivery driver, an employee of Brighouse Pallet Services Ltd, suffered a fracture to one of his neck vertebrae.

This was after the individual was struck by one or two falling pallets whilst they were being unloaded from an HGV trailer by a Seal It Services Ltd fork-lift truck (FLT) operator at the company's site in Elland.

HSE, Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, found that both companies failed to put in place simple control measures to ensure that all delivery drivers who visited Seal It Services Ltd were moved to a safe location for waiting, whilst HGV trailers were being unloaded by FLTs.

Brighouse Pallet Services Ltd, of Elland Road, was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £4806.60 in costs.

This was after the company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. 

Meanwhile, Seal It Services Ltd, of Riverbank Way, Elland, suffered a huge £50,000 fine and was ordered to pay £4,654.90 in costs.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

After the court hearing, HSE inspector David Welsh, said: “Loading and unloading of HGVs by FLTs are among the most dangerous transport activities in the workplace.

People can be hit by falling objects, struck by FLTs, or fall from vehicles.

“All such incidents can result in serious personal injury and the risks involved must be managed by all those who have legal duties for the safety of delivery drivers, both their employer and the sites they deliver to.

“This incident could so easily have been avoided by implementing the simple control measure of keeping the delivery driver out of the area where the FLT was operating to maintain a safe system of work.”

The HSE prevents work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise.