South Yorkshire manufacturer fined £80,000 after worker's foot crushed in fork lift crash
"This case highlights the importance of carefully assessing the wider safety implications of any changes made within a workplace”
A South Yorkshire company has been fined £80,000 after a worker’s foot was crushed in fork lift truck crash.
Barnsley bed spring manufacturer Leggett & Platt Components Europe pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety laws after Charlie O’Dowd suffered fractures to his foot and long term nerve damage.
A Health and Safety Executive investigation found the 20-year-old was using a pallet truck, which was unguarded, when it collided with a fork lift driven by another employee.
New machinery was being installed at the time and the company had changed warehouse transport routes.
It meant ride-on pallet trucks and fork lifts were using a busy stock loading area with limited visibility.
The HSE investigation found the changes had not been properly risk assessed before the incident in November 2024.
Leggett & Platt Components Europe Ltd, of Park Springs Industrial Estate, Long Royd, Grimethorpe, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health & Safey at Work etc. Act 1974 in relation to the safe use of workplace transport within the warehouse.
The company was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £3,374 at Leeds Magistrates Court on October 20, 2026.
HSE Inspector Chris Parker said: "This case highlights the importance of carefully assessing the wider safety implications of any changes made within a workplace, even where those changes may be temporary.
"When workplace transport routes are altered, employers must ensure that the risks created by those changes are properly assessed and controlled before they are introduced.
"Had suitable planning and risk assessment been carried out, this incident could have been prevented."