Man next to lorry crushed by paper reel

A man in his forties suffered life-threatening injuries when he was crushed under a paper reel on an industrial estate in Essex last week.

According to a BBC report, the accident took place at the Childerditch Industrial Park in Brentwood, Essex, at 11am on 25 September.

A spokesman for the Essex Fire & Rescue Service said that firefighters had assisted in moving the man from the rear of a lorry parked at Unit 51 on the estate to an air ambulance.

There is no information on what exactly happens but given the position of the man, it looks like he was near the reel handling truck and the reel slipped, crushing him. Should this be the case, then it is yet another avoidable tragic accident of a person who does not need to be next to a forklift or reel truck when it is lifting or lowering items on a vehicle or racking.

The man, who was said by the BBC to have suffered "multiple injuries", was then airlifted to Victoria Park and transferred to the major trauma centre at Royal London Hospital.