Fines for repair firm and its director after man crushed at London garage
Fines due to man crushed at London garage
A garage is fined £12,000 after a customer is crushed by his own vehicle at a garage in North London. Mr Emanet is “lucky to be alive,” according to an inspector from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Mr Emanet spent six days in critical care unit after sustaining serious injuries due to being crushed in the incident. As a result, he is left with permanent and life changing injuries.
Avoidable Accident
The 62-year-old took his company vehicle to be serviced. The company director, left him standing under the vehicle while it was raised on a vehicle lift. As the director walked away it fell off the lift and on to Mr Emanet. As a result, he was crushed under his own vehicle at the garage. While Mr Emanet survives this incident, not everyone is so lucky. HSE warns workers of the dangers of vehicles being poorly supported. In the past five years, 24 workers in the motor repair industry were killed in work-related accidents. The fatal injury rate in the motor vehicle repair industry is around five times the average rate across all industries. Recent research suggests that over half of all fatal injuries, are caused by work under a poorly supported vehicle.
Find Availability of HSE Guidance in dealing with health and safety in the motor industry here .
HSE Investigation
The HSE investigation finds the director is found directly responsible for the way work is conducted along with how accessibility is managed on site. Failings to ensure that members of the public were not exposed to health and safety risks were found. The repairs garage pleads guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work and of the lifting Equipment Regulations. The company is fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £2406 costs at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 7 December 2023.
Injuries sustained
Mr Emanet sustains serious crush injuries in the incident. At the same hearing, the director pleads guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work act and has a result was fined £500 and was ordered to pay £1500 costs.
Incident could have been avoided “This incident could have been avoided if he simply was asked to stay in the waiting area provided for members of the public. Instead, not only was he left to move freely around the two-post vehicle lift on which his vehicle was raised, he was asked by a director of the business to assist with the work being carried out, in the minutes before it fell.”
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