Smith & Nephew Medical has been fined £230,000 after being found guilty of safety breaches which resulted in a Nippon Express delivery driver sustaining life-changing injuries when the 1.2 tonne crate he had delivered to the firm’s Hull site fell from a forklift truck and landed on him.
Hull Crown Court heard that on 22 December 2020, 64-year-old Nippon Express (UK) employee Mr Dubey was delivering a large crate containing an electron microscope to Smith & Nephew Medical’s site.
Nippon Express had originally planned to provide both the forklift truck and driver for the unloading operation. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Smith & Nephew sought to reduce the number of people entering its site and took responsibility for unloading the delivery instead.
An HSE investigation found that the unloading operation had not been properly planned, assessed or supervised.
Mr Dubey was positioned in an unsafe location while the crate was lifted, and the load subsequently fell from the forklift and struck him, causing life-changing injuries.
Smith & Nephew had failed to adequately assess the unloading operation or establish whether its two-tonne forklift was suitable for handling the characteristics of the approximately 1.2-tonne crate.
The company also failed to properly consider how the lift should be carried out, who should be involved and what precautions were required. The unloading operation was not meaningfully controlled or supervised, HSE said.
Smith & Nephew Medical, of Hull, was found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
The company was sentenced on 14 September 2026, fined £230,000 and ordered to pay £111,000 in costs.
HSE inspector David Stewart said the company’s arrangements for deliveries should have remained clear despite changes introduced during the pandemic.
“The company should have had clear procedures in place setting out how deliveries were to be managed and what safety measures were required for third parties attending site.
“These requirements did not change just because normal delivery arrangements at Smith & Nephew had changed, due to restrictions on third-party access during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If Smith & Nephew were not to play any role in unloading deliveries, this should have been clearly specified.
“If third parties were permitted to take part, including supervising or guiding a forklift truck driver, this should also have been clearly defined, along with the actions necessary to ensure their safety.
“This case should serve as a reminder to the wider industry of the need to properly plan and supervise unloading operations, particularly where non-standard loads are involved.
“Such operations require a risk assessment proportionate to the hazards, taking account of the nature of the load, the suitability of lifting equipment and the arrangements for execution and supervision.”
