Firm pays worker accident compensation

A pipework company has been prosecuted after an employee suffered a work injury involving a forklift truck.

Polypipe Ltd, of Edlington, Doncaster, admitted that it had breached Regulation 4 (1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. As a result, the firm was fined £20,000 and instructed to pay £5,000 accident compensation to the employee involved in the work accident. Skegness Magistrates’ Court also instructed the firm to pay costs of £4,765.

"Falls from height are the biggest causes of workplace deaths and it’s crucial that employers make sure work is properly planned, supervised and carried out to protect staff from these risks," Health and Safety Executive inspector Emma Madeley said.

On June 16th 2009, a worker, who has not been named, was hit by a forklift truck that was lowering himself and a colleague to the ground at the firm's site on Boston Road Industrial Estate, Horncastle, Lincolnshire.

It's also possible that injury lawyers could have been involved in cases after 2,056 employees in the East Midlands suffered major injuries in the workplace in 2009/10.

Published by Hannah Carr