A garage has been fined £12,000 after a customer was crushed by his own vehicle at a garage in North London.
The victim is “lucky to be alive”, according to an inspector from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The victim spent six days in a critical care unit after he sustained serious crush injuries in the incident. He has been left with permanent and life-changing injuries.
The 62-year-old had taken his company vehicle to be serviced at the repair firm’s garage on 15 August 2022. The company director left him standing under the vehicle while it was raised on a vehicle lift. As the company director walked away it fell off the lift and onto the victim.
While the victim was a member of the public who survived this incident, not everyone is so lucky. HSE has previously warned workers of the dangers of poorly supported vehicles.
In total, 24 workers in the motor vehicle repair industry have been killed in work-related accidents in the last five years, with the fatal injury rate in the motor vehicle repair industry around five times the average rate across all industries. Recent research suggests that over half of all fatal injuries in the sector were caused by work under a poorly supported vehicle.
The HSE investigation found that the company failed to ensure that members of the public were not exposed to health and safety risks. The company also failed to ensure that the equipment had been thoroughly examined for any defects.
The company director was in control of the garage at the time of the incident. He was directly responsible for the way work was conducted and access was managed on site. He failed to ensure that members of the public were not exposed to health and safety risks.
The company pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and guilty to a contravention of Regulation 9(3)(a)(ii) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £12,000 and was ordered to pay £2406 costs at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 7 December 2023.
At the same hearing the company director pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) by virtue of Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. He was fined £500 and was ordered to pay £1500 costs.
After the hearing, the HSE’s Inspector said: “[the victim] is lucky to be alive.
“This incident could have been avoided if he had simply been asked to stay in the waiting area provided for members of the public.
“Instead, not only was he left to move freely around the two-post vehicle lift on which his vehicle was raised, he was asked by a director of the business to assist with the work being carried out, in the minutes before it fell.”
Source: HSE