Company fined after wheel falls on to worker’s feet

A company has been fined after the wheel of a JCB digger fell on to one of its workers. The man was working for Holt JCB at a site on Port Talbot, on April 8, 2016.

Swansea Magistrates Court heard how the apprentice was tasked with changing air filled wheels with foam wheels on a machine intended to be used on a recycling site. The wheel weighed more than 400kg. The incident left the man with broken bones in both feet.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company did not have any handling equipment for wheels, had not assessed the operation and had not trained workers on how to handle wheels.

Holt JCB of Third Way, Bristol pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Manual Handling Regulations 1992. The company has today been fined £67,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2929.70.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Steve Richardson said: “This incident could have been prevented if the company had used a mechanical wheel handler costing less than £700. Measures such as this would have been apparent had the task been properly assessed.”