Electrical wholesaler fined £4 million after unsecured forklift load crushes worker
City Electrical Factors has been fined £4 million after a worker suffered life-changing injuries during forklift loading in Telford. HSE found the operation lacked a risk assessment and lift plan.
The prosecution follows an incident at the company's Proteus Switchgear Industrial Division on 4 October 2024. A 231kg switchboard load fell from a forklift while being loaded onto a flatbed lorry, crushing an employee acting as a spotter.
HSE found that the load was unsecured, despite available anchor points, and that a lorry-mounted crane offered a safer alternative. It said lifting work had not been properly planned, supervised or explained to employees.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Birmingham Magistrates Court imposed the fine and £6,304 costs on 16 October 2026. This is a new sentencing outcome, not a newly occurring accident.
Source attribution
- Source organisation
- Health and Safety Executive
- Original date
- 16 Oct 2026
- Published by us
- 16 Oct 2026
Pallet News publishes a short original summary only. Copyright in the original update remains with the publishing organisation.
Community
Discuss this topic in the forum
No discussion is created automatically.
More from this section
Related stories
Traffic Commissioners urge operators to build driver welfare into compliance
Great Britain’s Traffic Commissioners say lawful rest, secure parking, fatigue monitoring and driver health belong in operators’ everyday safety management.
Berlin firefighters contain 800-square-metre pallet storage fire
Berlin’s fire service reports that wooden pallets burned across around 800 square metres in Neukölln. Crews prevented the fire spreading to a neighbouring warehouse.
ECT postpones Rotterdam driver safety-test enforcement to January
Drivers visiting ECT Delta and Euromax will need a successfully completed safety test from 5 January 2027. The terminal operator has postponed enforcement again.