Haulage company fined £250,000 for workplace fatality

A haulage company has been prosecuted and fined after an employee died while working inside a shipping container. The company pleaded guilty to breaching s.2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. 1974.

The employee and a colleague were lifting a metal frame weighing around 120kg within a shipping container, when one of the other metal frames fell backwards towards them. The employee was pinned by the neck between the wall of shipping container and the metal frames.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation determined that the company had no suitable risk assessment in place and the work had not been properly planned.

This incident serves as a reminder to businesses to:

• Ensure that they have a safe system of work and suitable risk assessments in place for high-risk work activities especially for environments where heavy plant and machinery work is undertaken.

• Ensure that tasks are supervised and appropriately monitored.

• Refer to HSE approved code of practice and guidance when assessing tasks.