Fishgate Limited fined £119,000 after worker falls 6m from forklift truck

Fishgate Limited, a food manufacturing company, was fined £119,032.63 (inc. costs) after a worker fell six metres from the forks of a fork lift truck.

The circumstances were:

• An employee of Fishgate Limited was instructed on 16 July 2013 to paint guttering and drainpipes on the outside of their factory.
• The work was not properly planned nor was it adequately supervised.
• The worker had not received any training or advice on how to correctly carry out the task.
• He was raised up by a forklift driver in an unsecured tote box to paint the guttering and drainpipes.
• He fell to the ground from a height of around six metres.
• This resulted in a dislocated arm, cracked pelvis, broken foot and shattered leg.

The HSE inspector said:
“This work activity should have been properly planned. The injured worker should have been given the correct equipment as well as instruction as to how to carry out the work. The company also failed to adequately supervise the activity which could have prevented the incident.”