Sponsored by
Vale firm fined £16k over safety failures
A trailer chasis in the company's yard
A Haddenham-based company has been fined £16,000 after an employee suffered multiple fractures following a preventable accident.
Waldemar Makowski, of St Annes Road in Aylesbury, was injured when a trailer chasis fell from a fork lift truck and crushed his left leg on August 15 last year.
K Two Sales Limited, which manufactures farm machinery from its base in Station Road, was found to have ‘failed to consider the risk’ of the incident occuring and ‘provide an adequate system’ to prevent it.
The incident occured in a yard area and Mr Makowski, then aged 42, suffered long-term injuries.
He was unable to go back to work for several months while he recovered.
On Monday Aylesbury Magistrates’ Court head that although the company has since redesigned the draw bar, the procedure at the time for moving the chasis was ‘flawed’ and a direct cause of Mr Makowski’s injuries.
Speaking after the hearing, Health and Safety Executive inspector Karl Howes said: “This incident shows that employers need to fully consider and assess the stability of work equipment.
“Had K Two Sales Limited undertaken a proper assessment of the movement of the chassis sooner, then Mr Makowski need not have suffered serious injury.
“HSE will not hesitate to prosecute those who put workers at risk in this way.”
The company was fined a total of £16,000 and ordered to pay £3,102 in costs.
K Two Sales is a family run business which was established in the 1980s.
A spokesman for the firm did not wish to comment about the prosecution.
During the hearing, the company, which operates from Fowlers Field Farm, pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 20 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. It also admitted contravening a Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulation from 1999.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Meet the canal grotspot A-Team
- Sculptor’s naked fat lady riding a 19ft dinosaur set to turn heads at Chelsea Garden Show
- Tasty meal showcases good work of Aylesbury prison following ‘negative’ TV documentary
- Aylesbury High girl’s trip of a lifetime thanks to scholarship
- Two Aylesbury men jailed following death of cyclist in Terrick
- Two Aylesbury men jailed following death of cyclist in Terrick
- Serial vandals burn memorial seating by Aylesbury canal
- Evergreen but never stuck in a rut: Alan Candy road tests the Suzuki Jimny
- Tasty meal showcases good work of Aylesbury prison following ‘negative’ TV documentary
- Man sleeps rough to draw focus on plight of homeless
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Aylesbury
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North
