Investigation Raises Risk Management Concerns

A delivery firm has been fined £150,000 after one of its workers suffered a serious head injury when his skull was crushed by a lorry at its Essex depot.

Simon Mason, 22, continues to suffer from the long-term effects of the incident, which happened in March 2010 when an articulated 45ft HGV trailer was being reversed into a bay at the West Horndon site of Tuffnells Parcels Express.

The worker noticed the trailer was not straight and put his head around it to shout instructions to the driver. However, the trailer then reversed further, crushing Mr Mason’s head against a brick wall.

An investigation into the incident revealed risk management was not properly implemented on the site, while no safe system of work was in place for employees.

Stephen Nye, a workplace injury specialist at Irwin Mitchell, said: “This is undoubtedly a shocking incident and one which the victim is still continuing to recover from after a number of operations.

“Workplace injuries like this are sadly uncommon and we act for a number of people who have suffered the serious, life-changing effects of employers failing to implement property safety standards.

“Risk assessment and management is a fundamental aspect of health and safety which simply cannot be avoided by employers. Lessons need to be learnt by businesses as, like this case highlights, a failure to acknowledge the consequences can be devastating.”