A Northern Ireland manufacturer, SDC Trailers, has been fined £5,900, after pleading guilty to health and safety breaches relating to unsecured lorry loads, contrary to the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
In June 2007, an employee of its parts arm in Mansfield, SDC Parts and Services, was injured while unloading a consignment of lorry wheel and tyre assemblies from a curtain-sided trailer that had been loaded by SDC Trailers at its factory in Northern Ireland. The goods were being manually palletised when one fell from a stack and fractured the worker's knee.
A further incident involving a consignment loaded by SDC Trailers occurred in the same month. Another employee of SDC Parts and Services received crushing injuries when preparing to unload from a curtain-sided trailer. As the curtain was released, an unsecured stack of lorry tyres fell from the trailer, pinning him against an adjacent vehicle.
Inspector Maureen Kingman, on behalf the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSE NI) said, "The unloading of trailers in which loads have not been properly secured, places those involved at considerable risk. The outcome of these incidents, the injuries and the subsequent fine, reminds us that the results can be serious for people and for businesses that fail to comply with their health and safety duties."
