On May 2017, an agency worker started his first day of work in a Gloucester depot as a delivery driver. After a short induction, the worker set his day delivering his first drop successfully, however on the second drop; due to an incorrect address he was unable to deliver 12 beer kegs.

The worker decided to go to his other delivery, however when removing the beer from the lorry to gain access to the other load, he fell backwards from a raised tail lift onto the road and several kegs of beer fell onto the worker. This resulted in serious injuries to the agency worker including a traumatic brain injury and facial fractures which required metal plated to be inserted into his skull.

The Health & Safety Executive held an investigation which found that the agency worker have had no previous experience using the equipment which was involved in the incident. He was not given any practical training in the use of the machinery, nor made aware of the safe working practices on how the pallet truck shout be used on a tail lift.

H & M Distribution Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Regulation 1974. it has been fined £60,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,203.14.

HSE inspector stated: “Employers who use agency workers or contractors have a responsibility to firstly establish the workers’ competence, taking into account their level of experience and familiarity with the work and work equipment, and then provide the appropriate level of training to ensure the work is done safely.  If appropriate training had been provided, the life-changing injuries sustained by the agency worker could have been prevented.”

The company failed to carry out any checks on the new member of staff before he started his new role in the company.

To see the full report please click here

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Keywords – Health and Safety Training, HSE, Health and Safety Level 2, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Cardiff