A company has been fined £450,000 after a young employee was crushed by a forklift he had been driving.
Ben Pallier-Singleton, 19, died after the vehicle overturned at Vinyl Compound Ltd’s site in High Peak, Derbyshire, on 10 February 2015.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that he had not been trained properly and had not been wearing a seatbelt at the time.
The company was also ordered to pay more than £71,000 in costs after pleading guilty at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court to breaching health and safety regulations.
No speed control measures had been put in place by the company, and employees had not been told about the on-site speed limit.
According to the HSE, the company had also failed to put adequate lighting or edge protection in place – a measure that could have stopped the forklift from overturning.
Outside court, Mr Pallier-Singleton’s mother Kathryn said her son, one of three siblings, had been the “shining light” of the family who “brought everyone together”.
She said: “I am heartbroken and angry that Ben could go to work and be killed because his employer, Vinyl Compound, took so little care of him, failed to train him or make sure the workplace was safe.
“It is utterly shocking that this can happen even now.
“The directors who made the decisions will be now able to get on with their lives but we are serving a life sentence.
“Any fine they have paid is nothing, no penalty at all compared to the penalty we face – lifelong torment, endless sadness and grief without Ben.”
HSE inspector Berian Price said the “tragic incident” could have easily been prevented.
He added: “The company’s management of forklift truck driving operations and its failure to provide various measures to ensure the safety of the external yard area coupled with the lack of safe driver measures, such as wearing a seatbelt, exposed employees to serious safety risks.
“Sadly, in this case, these failures resulted in the needless loss of Mr Pallier-Singleton’s life.”
Source: Sky