A company has received a £1 million fine following an accident resulting in an employee sustaining serious injuries after a significant fall.
Employee Christopher Hooper suffered skull, back, pelvis, arm, wrist and ankle fractures, which were caused by an 11 metre fall in September 2022 at DP World Southampton.
31-year-old Christopher, from Winchester, hit a concrete floor after falling through an open hole in the driver’s cab of a straddle carrier.
Contractors were responsible for the hole due to a glass floor being replaced, which exposed Mr. Hooper and his colleagues to the risk of a fall from height.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Mr. Hooper’s employer failed to ensure there was a safe system of work operating on-site.
Mr. Hooper had been undertaking routine maintenance work, and was unaware of the open hole prior to his fall.
The investigation found that Southampton Container Terminals Limited had failed to ensure a system of work.
Otherwise, it would have ensured that the glass floor was replaced so that routine maintenance work could happen safely at the same time.
The company also failed to ensure that a risk assessment was carried out to identify and implement its own policy for the use of working permits for working at height.
Mr. Hooper’s victim personal statement said:
“I feel like a puppet in my life who is being moved from therapy to therapy with no control over where I am going.
It feels like my life is in a waiting room, early out of hospital I had closer milestones that felt achievable, whereas now no one can tell me what I can do next and that is really impacting my day-to-day life as I don’t know what the rest of my life will look like.”
Southampton Container Terminals Limited, of Palace Street, Westminster, London pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It received a £1 million fine and was ordered to pay £11,664.59 in costs at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on 2 August 2024.
Francesca Arnold, a HSE inspector, said:
“This incident has resulted in severe life-changing injuries for Mr. Hooper, who is lucky to be alive. His life has completely changed because of Southampton Container Terminals Limited’s failure to produce a suitable risk assessment and implement straightforward control measures.
“The hazards of working at height are well known and documented and this prosecution should now remind employers that a failure to manage and implement effective measures can have serious consequences and they will be held accountable for this failure. Information on working at height safely is freely available on HSE’s website.”
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