JCB fined after auditor crushed by 770kg of machinery

Michael Addison was auditing incoming deliveries of equipment when he was struck from behind by falling machinery weighing 770kg.

The worker was then left trapped between a pallet and the load in the North Yard area of the Rocester site.

He suffered multiple serious injuries and had to spent 13 weeks in hospital.

At a hearing at Stafford Crown Court, JCB was fined £375,000 after pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974, as well as paying £37,235 in court costs.

DHL, which employed Mr Addison, was also fined £266,000 after pleading guilty to one breach of the same act, and ordered to pay £23,370 court costs.

In Judge Michael Chambers QC judgement, he said JCB had failed to carry out any specific risk assessment of the auditing work undertaken Mr Addison.

He said the firm had also failed to ensure there were proper 'delineated' routes to keep pedestrians separated from vehicles.

And he said the firm had failed to ensure pallets were stored in a designated storage area.

On DHL, Mr Chambers said the firm had failed to carry out a risk assessment for audting work in the yard.

And he said it had failed to bring in a safe system of working.

DHL provided a logistics service for JCB following an agreement in 2010, and from October in 2013 it began undertaking auditing of transmission parts.

The incident involving Mr Addison took place on October 16.

Mr Chambers, in his judgement, said Mr Addison was approaching pallets in the yard to carry out auditing when the incident happened.

Another man driving a truck towing a trolley carrying machinery turned sharply, hitting Mr Addison with the load, followed by the trolley, which overturned.

Mr Addison suffered two broken ribs, three fractures to his back, among other injuries. He still suffers from debilitating symptoms, Mr Chambers said.

The prosecution was brought forward by the Health and Safety Executive.

After the hearing, Inspector David Brassington HSE Inspector David Brassington said: “The dangers of failing to provide effective segregation between pedestrians and vehicles are well known.

"Both of these companies were well versed in transport risk management and both fell well below the required standard in ensuring that such risks were effectively managed in this area.”

"These failings allowed a pedestrian worker into a busy area where vehicles were coming and going and as a result the worker sustained serious injuries from which he has still not recovered.”