Fall from cherry picker results in fine for employer
A construction worker had a very narrow escape when he fell from the cage of the cherry picker he was working on in an incident in March last year. The dramatic accident saw the worker fall four metres from the cage, into the path of a moving bus. He was dragged for fifteen metres partially under the bus before the driver noticed that something was amiss and came to a halt.
The worker suffered from severe injuries to his head, arm, pelvis and leg and was unable to return to work for many months.
The subsequent health and safety investigation found that the worker and his colleague has not received appropriate health and safety training, and were not even wearing high visibility jackets, despite the fact that they were working in the early hours of the morning.
The inspectors also decided that the cherry-picker was not an appropriate choice for the job or the environment in which it was used and that this, combined with a lack of planning and supervision had contributed to the accident occurring.
The construction company was fined twelve thousand pounds and ordered to pay in excess of sixteen and a half thousand pounds in costs when they were found guilty of two ‘serious’ health and safety breaches.