A Leicester door-fitting firm has been fined after an employee was injured when he fell from a wooden crate fixed to a fork lift truck.

The 39 year-old man from Enderby, Leicester, fractured his wrist, heel, ankle and elbow when he fell nearly five metres while fitting a roller shutter door at a farm in West Firsby, Lincoln.

He needed an operation on his heel and was unable to work for about three months after the incident on 2 September 2011. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and prosecuted his employer, Multi Industrial Doors Ltd (MIDL), of Burbage, for failing to properly plan work at height.


Lincoln Magistrates' Court heard that on arrival at the farm, the employee and his colleague tied a wooden potato crate to a forklift truck using a strap from their vehicle. The employee was then lifted five meters to install a motor on the potato store wall. As he turned to pick up tools, the crate tipped, he fell to the ground below and the crate fell on top of him.

Multi Industrial Doors Ltd, of Sapcote Road, Burbage, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 8(b) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The firm was fined at total of £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,870 costs.

(CD)