Tragedy in the Workplace

15 May 2018

A good reason to always have a safety procedure in place.

Most tragedies occur because there is no safety training or awareness.

Here are two true stories where there was negligence and mistakes made and the result was death.

The first tragedy happened when the contractor was on the premises to check out a malfunctioning security camera located at some height in the front of the company premises. The contractor was killed when the basket that he was elevated in to reach the camera fell off the forklift. The forklift driver had selected the basket that was not suitable to be in the forklift. The basket became unbalanced and fell off when the weight shifted. As as result of this, the man died and the occupier of the building and the employer were then  prosecuted.

In another incidence, an employee was killed when the pallet racking collapsed on him and he was struck with fallen cartons. This occurred because the racking leg at ground level was damaged and not protected. A forklift struck the unprotected leg resulting in cartons falling from a height onto the employee. Pallets of stock at a high level fell to the ground and the forklift driver was struck by the fallen cartons, suffered head injuries and died as a result.

The solution that should have been in place was to make sure that there was protection of the racking components for impact. The forklift driver should have been trained  in the safe and proper use of pallet racket system.

FACT: “47 people died in the workplace in 2018”

order to try to prevent such a tragedies, a risk assessment should be completed and a safety system be used. Platforms and cages should always be designed, structured and tested. Those without controls and not properly integrated should be avoided. All staff trained with safety awareness certificates . You can take one of our online safety courses and be certified in a matter of hours.