Fork lift lorry death firm gets £65k fine (From Daily Echo)

Fork lift lorry death firm gets £65k fine

5:45pm Tuesday 24th January 2012 in Romsey By Emma Streatfield, Senior Reporter

A HAMPSHIRE company has been fined £65,000 for a breach of health and safety regulations following an accident in which a lorry driver was crushed to death, a court heard.

Adam Millichip, 27, was delivering sheet metal to Wessex Lift Company Ltd, based in Budds Lane, Romsey, when the accident happened on November 16 2007.

The father-of-one was crushed when he walked into the gap between his vehicle and a forklift truck that was unloading it, Winchester Crown Court heard.

He died later in hospital of crushing injuries.

Wessex Lift Company Ltd, which manufactures and supplies low rise lifts to the disabled and elderly, admitted that their failures, which included not doing a risk assessment of its roadside forklift truck unloading procedure, had played a role in the accident, but not a significant cause in the death.

Mark Balysz, mitigating, said that what happened had deeply affected the company and staff and that even if the failures had been remedied, the accident could still have happened.

The company was also ordered by judge Recorder Mr Christopher Parker QC to pay £60,000 costs.