Autoneum Great Britain was fined last December after an employee who fell from a delivery vehicle was left severely disabled.
Sue McFarlane’s partner John suffered life-changing brain injuries falling 2.5 metres from a delivery vehicle to a concrete floor at the vehicle parts company where he worked.
McFarlane, 57, a dad of four and grandfather of three, was in a coma for 24 days. He had a fractured skull, fractured ribs, a broken collar bone, and broken and dislocated fingers.
His wife is now his registered carer. He can never work or drive again and is classed as 80% disabled.
Autoneum Great Britain, which employed McFarlane at its site in Stoke-on-Trent, was fined £30,000 over the accident on 5 June 2018.
His wife said: “Not only has the accident had a devastating impact on his life but a devastating effect on all those around him, none more than his children, stepchildren, grandchildren, the whole family."
Before McFarlane fell, he and a visiting driver had climbed on to the top deck of the delivery vehicle at the Autoneum site and were trying to move a pallet, which had moved while being transported, towards the open edge where it could be reached by a forklift truck.
The banding they were using to move the pallet by hand snapped and John fell to the concrete floor.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that while a risk assessment was in place it was not suitable and sufficient and there was no safe system of work for unloading vehicles or dealing with pallets that had moved in transit.
Employees had not been adequately trained or instructed and supervision and monitoring was not adequate to identify the risk that existed.
Autoneum Great Britain, of Stanley Matthews Way, Trentham Lakes, Stoke on Trent Staffordshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at work etc Act 1974 and was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £10,126 costs at Cannock Magistrates Court on December 2, 2022.
HSE acting principal inspector Andrew Johnson said: “Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities in this country. The risks associated with working at height and safe systems of work to control the risks are well known. Employers have a responsibility to devise safe methods of work and to provide the necessary information, instruction, training and supervision to their employees and others working at their site.
“Had that been done, the life changing injuries Mr McFarlane has sustained could have been prevented.”
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety.
