A Lincolnshire farming company has been fined £7,000 after a worker was hit by a forklift truck.

CW Dobbs and Son of Spalding has also been ordered to pay £2,588 in legal costs after agency worker Algis Jevsejevas fractured his left leg in the incident on 21 October 2010.

Mr Jevsejevas was walking across the floor of a potato grading shed to get labels for boxes when he was hit by the reversing vehicle.

A Health and Safety Executive investigation found the company had failed to ensure the shed was organised in such a way that vehicles and pedestrians could move around safely.

After the hearing HSE inspector Neil Ward said:
“This incident need not have happened. The company should have made sure, so far as was reasonably practicable, that there was physical segregation between its workers and its vehicles.

“Since the incident, the farmer has put up a barrier but has also moved the labels to another part of the shed, next to the grading line, so people don’t have to walk across the shed. This goes to show how simple and inexpensive preventative measures can be.”

CW Dobbs and Son Ltd, of Home Farm, Hollands Chase, West Pinchbeck, Spalding, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 at Spalding Magistrates’ Court.

Have your say on Health and Safety on our forums.