A County Durham dairy has been fined after a worker fell from a loading bay and sustained serious injuries.
The worker, Simon Atkinson, 41, was hospitalised for nine days with injuries including a fractured eye socket, broken rib, multiple collar bone injuries and bleeding in the skull. He was put into an induced coma until he could receive surgery to remove a blood clot in his skull.
Mr Atkinson had been unloading empty milk bottles from a vehicle when he fell from height to a concrete floor.
Peterlee Magistrate's Court heard there was a barrier in the storage area previously, but had not been replaced since it's removal two years prior.
The dairy was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay court costs of £1,690 after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Cedrec's take
Accidents like this are always sad news, and it makes it worse when preventative measures could have changed the outcome.
Unfortunately, the changes will be made after Mr Atkinson suffered horrific injuries. Hopefully, he will make a full recovery, and safety failings will be appropriately addressed.
Simple preventions may not always seem to obvious, so keep up-to-date with legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and and the Work at Height Regulations SI 2005/735 to keep your workplace and staff safe.
