Large Builders Merchant Fined £2.2 Million

A major builder’s merchant has been fined after a worker was crushed in a conveyor. The company pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Section 2(1).  

The worker was inside the conveyor assessing plastic packaging over pallets of timber when a colleague started it not realising that they were inside. This resulted in a pallet of timber weighing approximately 3 tonnes crushing the worker. When the timber stopped moving along the conveyor, the second employee reversed it before changing its direction, crushing the worker a second time. 

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company was aware that workers were accessing the danger zone within the conveyor and had placed signage asking them not to do so, however the workers continued to do so. No further preventative action was taken until the incident occurred.