Businessman sentenced for accident injury

A businessman has been fined after an incident in which an employee suffered an accident injury in the workplace.

Michael Wilson, trading as M Wilson Commercials, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at South Ribble Magistrates' Court, Leyland.

He was found to have breached Regulation 5(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, instructed to pay £2,000 of prosecution costs and fined £4,000.

The work accident happened on March 3rd 2010 at Roadferry Transport Yard in Farrington, Leyland.

On that date, an employee, who does not wish to be named, fell from a ladder at a garage when he was reaching for a lorry cab's release mechanism.

"One of Mr Wilson's employees was badly injured because he was given an unsafe ladder to use. It should have been checked in advance to make sure it was suitable," Matt Lea, the investigating inspector at HSE, said.

As a result of the work accident, he broke one of the vertebrae in his spine and is still unable to return to employment.

In addition, H. Cope & Sons Ltd, a Grimsby demolition firm was fiend £12,000 late last year after a worker was injured in a fall.

Published by Tessa Jones