A company has been prosecuted after one of its employees was seriously injured when he was struck by a forklift truck.

Puma Engineering and Construction Limited of Westwood Business Park, Brunel Road, Southampton pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It has been fined £8,000 with more than £3,781 in costs.

West Hampshire Magistrates' Court heard how the worker was acting as a banksman for the forklift during a lifting operating involving the transporting and loading of pipe spools onto a flatbed truck on 16 November 2016.


However, during the operation the forklift drove into the back of the victim's left heel. As a result, his left leg had to be amputated from the knee down.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the company had failed to properly plan, organise and carry out the lifting operation in a safe manner.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Andrew Johnson: "All lifts must be properly planned, assessed and carried out in a safe manner. There were other safer, reasonably practicable options that the company could have taken to prevent the forklift coming into contact with the individual.

"The safest method in this instance was to use tag lines or push sticks to control the load, as opposed to controlling the load by hand."

(LM)