A father was left disabled when a heavy steel pallet fell on him at work, leading to a tragic accident.
Sheffield: A father of two, Wayne Hatton, faced a life-changing accident at work. An 800kg steel pallet fell on him during a night shift at Amber Precast Ltd. It was a tough day for him.
Wayne, who had just started as a supervisor, had his legs crushed. He ended up losing his right lower leg and two toes on his left foot. Can you imagine? He spent seven weeks in the hospital and now uses a prosthetic leg.
The pallet fell while being removed from a concrete cast. Wayne was just doing his job when the accident happened. The company didn’t have proper safety measures in place, which is just heartbreaking.
After the incident, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) looked into what went wrong. They found that the pallet wasn’t secured properly before it was moved. It’s shocking that the company didn’t have a solid plan for safely removing it.
Wayne and his team hadn’t received any training on how to handle the pallet safely. Amber Precast Ltd was found guilty of breaching safety laws and was fined £60,000. They also had to pay over £5,000 in costs.
HSE inspector Jane Fox said this could have been avoided with proper training and safety procedures. It’s a tough lesson, but it shows how important it is to prioritize safety at work.
