Firm given £80k fine after driver is crushed

A builders merchant has been handed a fine of more than £80,000 for safety failings after a lorry driver was crushed by three tonnes of decking.

The driver had been delivering the wooden decking to Crescent Building Supplies in Uxbridge when he was crushed suffering serious injuries.

On April 6 in 2017, the driver had delivered the pallets to the builders’ yard in Longbridge Way, off an industrial estate in Uxbridge Moor, when he was injured.

One of the employees was using a forklift to unload the wooden pallets, but it tipped forward from the weight, and landed on the delivery driver.

The driver was crushed by the weight and sustained serious and long-term injuries to his shoulders, back, hip and leg, some of which required surgery.

Hillingdon Council’s environmental health inspectors found that the weight of the decking was around three tonnes, which exceeded the safe-lifting capacity of both forklifts being used at the site.

They found no evidence that anyone at Crescent Building Supplies had tried to calculate the weight of the load either when it was ordered or before they unloaded it from the lorry. At Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (December 3), Crescent Building Supplies Limited was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £22,015.14 in costs.

They must also pay a victim surcharge of £150. The company had previously admitted breaching health and safety regulations.

The money must be paid within 28 days.

Councillor Douglas Mills, Hillingdon

Council’s Cabinet Member for Community, Commerce and Regeneration, said: “Sadly on this occasion this company’s safety procedures failed and this resulted in serious and life-changing injuries for this poor man.

“There cannot be a more powerful reminder of the need to stick to the law.

“We will never hesitate to prosecute in circumstances like this.”

HILLINGDON COUNCIL The forklift was not able to lift three tonnes and toppled over, crushing the lorry driver under the decking