Recent prosecutions: Crushing incident costs manufacturing company £60,000

A manufacturing business was hit with a £60,000 fine following a crushing incident that caused a new employee to lose his lower leg. The recently hired supervisor was working a night shift when an 800kg pallet fell from an overhead crane onto his legs. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed that the pallet was not securely fixed to the crane's lifting chains.

The employee endured a seven-week hospital stay, during which his lower right leg was amputated and two toes on his left foot were removed.

The HSE found that the manufacturing company had failed to establish a safe system of work for safely lifting from its reinforced concrete cast. Neither the injured employee nor his co-workers had been trained to correctly extract the pallet.

Establishing safe systems of work

A safe system of work (SSoW) is a set of procedures that help employees complete tasks with minimum risk. A well-structured framework will typically cover:

• Risk assessments to pinpoint potential hazards.
• Clear work procedures that outline safe methods for common tasks.
• Staff health and safety training to ensure staff follow correct procedures.
• PPE requirements for any given task.
• Incident reporting processes to document near misses and accidents.
• Inspection schedules outlining the frequency of equipment checks.
• Emergency response plans detailing fire safety, first aid, and incident response procedures.