Fall at work

An animal feed company has been fined after a man suffered a fall at work, falling six feet from a pallet stacking machine.

The prosecution follows an incident on July 17 last year when a 53-year-old employee was working at the Dodson and Horrell premises in Ringstead, Northamptonshire.

As he was oiling the chains on a machine that stacks bags of animal feed onto pallets he slipped and fell approximately six feet, resulting in bruised ribs and a punctured lung.

Kettering-based Dodson and Horrell pleaded guilty to breaching the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations at Kettering Magistrates' Court and was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,255.

Investigations by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company had failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to their employees undertaking maintenance at height, which resulted in the man's fall.

HSE inspector Michelle Morrison said: "The risks of working at height always need to be fully assessed as every month 1,000 workers suffer a serious injury in the workplace.

"The outcome of this incident, the injuries and the subsequent fine remind us that the results can be serious for people and for businesses that fail to comply with their health and safety duties."

Copyright © Press Association 2009

David Urpeth from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: "This is yet another work accident involving a fall form height.

"I am concerned that despite that the fact that falls from height are an obvious hazard, employers are still failing to protect their workers from the risk of injury or death following an accident at work.

"Such accidents cause terrible pain and suffering and could so easily be prevented if employers adequately assessed the risks faced by their workers."