Man loses leg due to concrete block falling from forklift truck. Company fined £300.000.

Buchan Concrete Solutions Ltd., a producer of concrete blocks was fined £300,000 after an employee had to have a leg amputated.

The circumstances were:

• On 30 June 2015,  large concrete blocks were being unloaded onto the outside yard area of Buchan's site.
• The unloading operation was not properly planned, 
• The forklift truck’s weight capacity of five tonnes was not enough to be able to cope with the weight of the blocks. 
• There was no system of work to excluded people from being in the vicinity while the concrete blocks were being lifted.
• The man was removing wooden struts that the concrete blocks had been resting on, while the concrete blocks were unloaded by a forklift. 
• One of the blocks slipped off from the forklift, and fell onto the worker.
• He was taken to hospital for treatment to serious crush injuries to one of his legs. The leg was eventually amputated from the shin down.

The HSE inspector said: “The injured man suffered life-changing injuries. This incident was entirely avoidable, had the lifting operations been properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner.”