Unloading of heavy goods 'must be in safe workspace'

Categories: General Health and Safety |


Unloading of heavy goods 'must be in safe workspace' Companies which employ workers to transport heavy materials have been reminded to ensure they provide a safe workplace for staff.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspection into the death of a lorry driver in a loading bay found one such company had failed to protect employees by not providing them with cones and tape while they were unloading heavy gates at a garden centre.

The lorry driver had removed the straps from the gates and checked the forks of a forklift truck were in the correct position before it started unloading.

However, two of the gates, weighing a combined 153kg (24 stone) fell from the truck and landed on the driver, crushing him.

HSE inspector Graeme McMinn commented: "This was a horrific and entirely avoidable incident. If proper safety measures had been taken.

"[Firms] must make sure a safe way of working is in place and that workers have clear responsibilities so everyone involved in the lifting operation knows what everyone else is meant to be doing and where they are meant to be," he added.

Staff could also don appropriate workwear when unloading heavy goods.
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