Middlesbrough-based Bertschi UK has been fined £425,000 after a warehouse supervisor died following a fall from a mobile loading ramp during a container operation at its Middlesbrough site.
Peter Hutchinson, 60, suffered fatal injuries after falling around 1.5 metres onto a concrete floor while helping to load plastic waste bales into a shipping container on 4 November 2021. He died in hospital on 23 November 2021.
Following a trial at Teesside Crown Court in April, the chemical logistics company was convicted of health and safety offences and, at a sentencing hearing on 17 July, was fined £425,000 and ordered to pay costs of £119,258.
A HSE investigation found the company had failed to properly assess and plan the loading operation and had not adequately controlled the risks associated with employees using a mobile loading ramp.
The investigation found Hutchinson stepped backwards after a plastic bale slipped from a forklift truck loading the container and fell from the unguarded ramp.
According to the HSE, employees were allowed to use the mobile loading ramp without handrails, despite the manufacturer’s instructions stating pedestrians should not use the ramp unless handrails were fitted.
The regulator also found Bertschi UK had failed to consider alternative loading methods that would have avoided work at height altogether, including using existing loading bays or loading containers while they were positioned at ground level.
The company was convicted of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and Regulations 4 and 6 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
HSE inspector Cain Mitchell said the incident had been entirely preventable.
“The manufacturer’s instructions were clear: no pedestrian should have been using the ramp without handrails being fitted,” he said.
“Employers should carefully assess work at height activities and always consider whether the task can be carried out without exposing workers to fall risks.”
In a statement released by the HSE, Mr Hutchinson’s wife, Karen, described her husband as her “very best friend”, adding that his death had left a lasting impact on his family.
The HSE said the prosecution serves as a reminder to operators that changes to loading operations or working practices should be subject to thorough risk assessments and that work at height should be avoided wherever reasonably practicable.
