Pallet Trucks UK has urged firms using forklift drivers to ensure the safety of their workers, after two businesses were recently fined hundreds of thousands of pounds for the heart-breaking deaths of two of their employees.
Derbyshire-based firm Vinyl Compound Ltd was fined £450,000 earlier this month after 19-year old forklift driver Ben Pallier-Singleton was tragically crushed to death in 2015.
A £300,000 fine was also levelled at Vacu-Lug Traction Tyres Ltd in Grantham this month after forklift driver Stephen Woollas was killed October 2014, leaving behind a daughter.
Phil Chesworth, managing director of Pallet Trucks UK, said: “The fact that the deaths of these two employees could have been avoided by enforcing proper safety regulations makes them even more terrible for everyone involved, and should serve as a reminder to all firms using forklifts to enforce proper safety procedures.
“A young man with his life ahead of him and a father with a child has died because of a lack of care to worker safety. These enormous fines, £450,000 and £300,000 respectively, will have a detrimental effect on the two companies; I urge any business using a forklift or who buys our forklift products to consider their procedures and training.”
19-year old Pallier-Singleton was found to have not been wearing a seatbelt at the time of his death, hadn’t been told about the on-site speed limits and hadn’t been trained properly to use a forklift.
Woollas died because the requirement for him to reverse his forklift in wasn’t enforced, and as a result of this he drove over a tyre, which toppled his forklift and crushed him to death.
Chesworth added: “Aside from procedure and training, it’s also vital that drivers are equipped with the right length of fork extensions for the job; lifting a load weighing multiple tonnes with forks that are too short could also result in the vehicle and the load toppling over.”
Pallet Trucks UK offers a wide variety of forklift truck extensions in different lengths to ensure a safe lift for the forklift driver and those working in the vicinity. All forklift extensions purchased through Pallet Trucks UK are made with high-grade, hardwearing materials that further guarantee worker safety.
In addition to forklift extensions, the company also stocks an array of pallet trucks, stackers, lift tables, sack trucks and a host of materials handling equipment available at affordable prices.
