Cargo Services (UK) Limited, based in Cardiff Docks, has been fined £110,000 and ordered to pay costs of more than £60,000 after a lorry driver was struck by a reversing forklift truck.

Robert Deverall was at the company's premises as a forklift loaded steel beams onto his lorry. Towards the end of loading, Deverall approached the side of the forklift truck. The forklift then reversed over the lorry driver's leg which later had to be amputated below the knee.

The Health and Safety Executive found insufficient procedures in place to keep visiting drivers away from the operating areas of forklift trucks. It was also found that the forklift in question had a faulty reversing alarm and horn; a problem which, maintenance records showed, had been a recurring issue for four years.

Story from Handling & Storage Solutions.