Jersey Road and Driveway Repairs Limited fined £60,000 plus costs after worker struck and seriously injured by telehandler

08 December 2021

Jersey Road and Driveway Repairs Limited was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000 by the Royal Court on 03 December 2021, after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law, 1989.

The prosecution followed an accident on 05 February 2021 at the company’s storage yard in St Peter.  The Managing Director of the company, who was not qualified to operate a telehandler, was using the vehicle to lift large bags containing stone onto a flatbed lorry. The type of vehicle in use was not suitable for ‘off road’ use and due to the waterlogged conditions at the yard the operator was forced to reverse towards the flatbed lorry. It was while he was reversing that the Managing Director lost control of the vehicle and subsequently struck and ran over an employee.  The employee suffered multiple fractures to his leg and, to date, has yet to return to work because of his injuries. 

An investigation by the Health and Safety Inspectorate (HSI) was initially hindered when the Managing Director lied, stating that another employee was driving the telehandler at the time of the accident and that CCTV of the accident was not available. Once established this was not the case the investigation identified the company did not have any risk assessment in place for the work carried out in its yard. Consequently, no measures, such as a one-way systems or physical barriers, had been put in place to ensure the safe circulation of pedestrian and vehicles.

The court also heard that the company’s only employee trained to operate the telehandler had previously warned the Managing Director that it was dangerous to operate the telehandler in the yard due to the surface conditions (Photograph below taken on the day of the accident).