February 8, 2024
Inappropriate control measures led to worker’s death
From our colleagues at Barbour EHS.
A Leicestershire company has been fined £900,000 after a father-of-two was crushed to death.
Lee Benham died on 4 November 2021 while attempting to move a scissor lift at Nationwide Platform Limited’s workshop in Liskeard, Cornwall.
The 45-year-old was working for Nationwide as an LGV driver when the incident occurred. He was operating a scissor lift from the ground to clear an access path so he could move pieces of machinery out of the workshop and load it onto his lorry in the yard.
The moveable controls on the scissor lift were in a position meaning that their direction was inverted, and when Lee operated the machinery, it came towards him and crushed him against a static scissor lift.
Investigating, the HSE found Nationwide Platforms Limited failed to sufficiently consider the dangers of operating machinery via moveable controls, and failed to provide appropriate monitoring and supervision during the morning when drivers were loading machinery onto their lorries.
Nationwide Platforms Limited, of Central Park, Lutterworth, Leicestershire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £900,000 and ordered to pay £12,405 in costs.
HSE
December 2023
