Concrete company fined after man's leg crushed

A concrete manufacturer has been fined after a steel pallet crushed an employee's leg which then had to be partially amputated.

The 800kg load fell on Wayne Hatton's legs during a night shift at Amber Precast Ltd's factory in Sheffield in 2021. He also had to have two toes removed and spent seven weeks in hospital.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the pallet was not supported while being moved and that Mr Hatton and other workers had not been instructed how to handle it safely.

Amber Precast Ltd, of Davy Business Park, admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Thursday and was fined £60,000.

The company was also ordered to pay £5,406.31 in costs.

The court heard that Mr Hatton, 50, had only recently been employed by the firm as a supervisor and he now had to wear a prosthetic leg.

The pallet fell on Mr Hatton, who is from Doncaster, as it was being moved from a reinforced concrete cast by a crane, but the investigation found it had not been secured onto the lifting chains properly.

The investigation also found Amber Precast Ltd failed to "consistently implement a system of work to ensure the pallet could be removed safely".

HSE inspector Jane Fox said: "This incident could so easily have been avoided with the correct instruction and implementation of an agreed safe working procedure.

"Amber Precast Ltd left its employees to work out their own methods of completing the pallet removal task, instead of providing them with suitable training and equipment so it could be done safely every time."

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