A textile firm in Wakefield, West Yorkshire has been fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £15,000 in costs after one of its workers was killed by a falling stack of bales.
James Welka, 61, had worked at WE Rawson Ltd's warehouse as a forklift-truck worker for five years when he was struck by bales of rags, weighing more than 300kg, after a column of bales collapsed.
The incident occurred in 2010 when Mr Welka was standing next to a five-metre high column of bales while making a phone call to a supervisor. A colleague was operating a forklift nearby in the process of moving some bales. The column suddenly toppled toward his truck but the top two bales fell in the opposite direction and struck Mr Welka, who had been out of sight behind the column.
He was taken to Pinderfields Hospital but was pronounced dead the same day.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that WE Rawson Ltd had stacked the rag bales unsafely, using vertical columns, which were inherently unstable, rather than tiered stacking. It had failed to consider the risks posed by the unstable columns to employees walking around the warehouse, and failed to put effective measures in place to control the pedestrian activities around the warehouse.
After the incident, HSE inspector Geoff Fletcher said, "This tragic incident could have been avoided had WE Rawson taken its duty of care toward its employees sufficiently seriously. The sad consequence of the company's failures is an unnecessary loss of life and the devastating impact this has had on Mr Welka's partner, family and friends.
The company was aware that the rag bales were unstable as there was a history of them collapsing. There were simple and straightforward steps that could have been taken to ensure that the stability of the bales did not present a risk to pedestrian workers in the warehouse area. Those measures were not taken.
After Mr Welka's death, the company adopted different stacking practices improving the stability of the stacks, reduced the need for pedestrians in the warehouse and improved the control of pedestrians in the warehouse. That is to be welcomed and expected, but cannot compensate for the loss of a life."
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