London – Lincolnshire-based tire retreader Vacu-Lug Traction Tyres Ltd. has been fined £300,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000 after a worker died when the forklift truck he was driving overturned at the company base in Grantham, according to a 15 Sept statement by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
UK tire retreader fined for fatal accident
Lincoln Crown Court heard the worker was transporting tires on 30 July 2014, when the forklift ran over a loose tire in the road. He was crushed between the vehicle and the ground and later died from his injuries. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
An investigation by the HSE, the UK’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, found there was no company policy in place instructing workers to wear seatbelts when operating forklift trucks.
The HSE added that if the tires had been stored securely this would have prevented them rolling onto the roadway and reduced the risk of such accidents.
