Textile store worker suffers injury at work
A man, who worked at a textile store, recently suffered a work accident, falling from an unguarded platform onto the concrete floor below.
The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £3,056 in costs, after it was found that workers had no supervision or training and no protection against falling from heights of up to 30 feet.
An HSE inspector has said, “While the injuries suffered were serious, they could have been much worse. A fall from this kind of height can be fatal”.
Regulation 17 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 stipulates that: “Every workplace shall be organised in such a way that pedestrians and vehicles can circulate in a safe manner.”
In 2007 and 2008, there were over 10,000 workplace accidents reported to HSE in the storage, warehousing and road haulage industries. Of these, over 1700 were major injuries, including fractures and amputations.