DARTFORD haulier KBC Logistics has been fined £12,000 after an employee was seriously injured when he was crushed by a reversing lorry.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), prosecuting, told Basildon Magistrates’ Court that in the early hours of 13 May 2011, driver Leslaw Chorazak, 54, was waiting to take his place at the wheel of the articulated 45ft heavy goods vehicle at the KBC depot in Askews Farm Road, Grays reports Roadtransport.com
Chorazak was guiding the returning driver as he reversed the lorry into the poorly lit yard. As he bent to pick up his torch, the driver lost sight of him and continued to reverse, crushing him between the back of the lorry and the office wall.
Chorazak, who was living in Wimbledon at the time of the incident but has since returned to his native Poland, suffered severe crush injuries to his right arm, body and collar bone and spent several days in hospital.
The HSE investigation found the yard was poorly lit, there was no means of separating pedestrians and vehicles, there was no proper supervision on site and no health and safety training for the staff working there or their managers.
KBC Logistics pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £12,000 with costs of £3,009.80.
