Parcels and secure delivery firm DX Network Services has been fined £200,000 after “systemic” safety failures led to a worker losing a leg after being hit by a forklift truck.
Warehouse worker Les More, 58, was hit by a forklift truck and trapped under the vehicle for an hour at the firm’s Eurocentral warehouse in Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Hamilton Sheriff Court heard last week that surgeons couldn’t save More’s left leg which had to be amputated above the knee.
The warehouse operative spent six weeks in hospital, including 15 days in intensive care, after the accident in January 2018.
Neil Thomson, prosecuting, said: “His left leg had to be amputated above the knee and he underwent four skin graft surgeries on his lower right leg.
“He continues to receive physiotherapy and counselling. His wife has had to give up her job to become his full-time carer and their home has been modified.”
DX Network Services was slammed by Sheriff Douglas Brown over the “clearly foreseeable” incident.
Sheriff Brown added that he would have fined the firm £300,000 had DX Network Services not pleaded guilty.
The court heard that DX Network Services initially blamed More and the forklift driver.
However the Sheriff said there had been a “systemic failure” to separate forklifts and pedestrians at the Eurocentral depot in Lanarkshire.
DX Networks, which employs 3,500 staff across the UK, admitted breaching workplace safety laws.
The court heard that the company has since taken measures to improve its safety procedure.
