A timber firm has been fined £15,000 after a worker was knocked down by a forklift truck.

Jon Walker Timber Products Ltd, of Bonington Road, Mapperley, leaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc and was also ordered to pay £9,850 in costs.

Nottingham Magistrates' Court heard that James Abrahams was walking alongside the forklift to steady a pallet of fencing being transported at Jon Walker Timber Product Ltd's yard at Mansfield Lane, Calverton, when the incident happened on 30 July 2012.

-- Advertisement --

He suffered leg fractures, broken and dislocated toes and deep grazing.

Mr Abrahams, 21, of Calverton was hospitalised for 12 days and unable to work for a number of months. He has not returned to the company.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found there was no safe system of work for transporting pallets through the yard. A risk assessment was not carried out and employees had not been provided with adequate training, information or instruction. Pedestrians and vehicles should not have been working in such close proximity.

The forklift driver's licence had expired four months prior to the incident and forklifts were operated by other unlicensed drivers.

The court heard that the firm had been issued with an Improvement Notice in 2001 for a lack of risk assessments, and written advice had previously been given by HSE on workplace transport issues, including forklift driver training.

(CD/MH)