"ruptured pancreas, lacerated liver, ruptured blood vessels in his leg...."

 

A false safety belief is when a task or procedure is deemed safe, not because a risk assessment was performed. But because no incident had occurred in the past. Here is an incident where the false safety belief lasted 30 years until someone was nearly killed.

A truck equipment manufacturer had wrongly allowed sheets of aluminium to be stored on an A-frame instead of flat on the ground when one fell on top of a 58-year-old member of staff, a court heard. The victim, who worked as a welder, amazingly managed to wriggle free but was rushed to hospital with serious injuries and spent two weeks in intensive care after suffering a ruptured pancreas, lacerated liver and ruptured blood vessels in his leg.

The case was referred to by the (government safety organization), who conducted an investigation and deemed that the company had breached health and safety laws. This week, a representative for the truck equipment manufacturer appeared at Court to plead guilty to being an employer who failed to discharge general health, safety and welfare duty to an employee.

The court heard that the victim was at work on the morning of August 2023. prosecuting, said the manufacturer manufactured, installed and repaired aluminium tipping bodies on trucks and the victim was employed as a welder.

The prosector said sheets of aluminium were stored on an A-frame, lifted onto a trestle table for welding work using a crane, then either taken to a truck, stored against a wall or put back on the A-frame once the welding work was complete.

The court heard that the victim had put some of the aluminium sheets, known as blanks, back on an A-frame. The prosecutor added: "He went to remove a clamp and stacks of the blanks fell forward and crushed him against the trestle table behind him.

"Despite serious injuries sustained, he managed to move his body to get out. He was found lying on his side against the trestle table and the emergency services were called."

The court heard that the victim needed surgery for his injuries and will require further operations in the future. He spent three weeks in hospital, during which time he also contracted pneumonia and sepsis. He is also now currently unable to work due to being in constant pain.

The prosecutor said a health and safety investigation was conducted, which found that there was a lack of suitable and effective assessments of the risks associated with the storage and handling of stock and that the victim had not received effective or adequate training in respect of safe storage.

However, the prosecutor said the main breach was how the aluminium sheets were stored. He said: "Stacking aluminium blanks on an A-frame is not a method of storage that was as safe as reasonably practicable and was contrary to guidance published by the Government safety organization."

The prosecutor added: "They should have been stored flat. If they had been, they couldn't have fallen over."

The defense attorney, said the truck equipment manager director, was extremely sorry. He said: "It's a matter of profound regret for (injured worker) and his wife that, after 30 years of running the company, a member of staff has been injured. I make profuse apologies on their behalf."

The defense attorney said the company had stored aluminium sheets on A-frames for 30 years and never experienced any issues but they had now changed their procedures to make sure they are stored flat on the ground.

District Judge said it was the role of the criminal courts to establish criminal wrongdoing and punish the company accordingly, it was not to award compensation to the victim, which was a civil matter.

The truck equipment manufacturer was fined 24,000 Euros for costs and victim surcharge.

We pray that the worker heals from his physical and mental injuries and can have a long life.

The easiest way to spot a false safety belief is to ask one simple question. “Why do you do that?” If one of the answers is “We always have done it this way.” Be cautious because if a risk assessment was not performed it might just be a matter of time until an incident occurs. In this incident it took 30 years for everything to align an incident occurred with the procedure.

 

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