£3/4 Million fine for unsafe timber yard traffic routes

£750k penalty for timber yard with unsafe workplace traffic routes

IOSH magazine reports a huge fine for Palmer Timber yard in the West Midlands, where two people were injured, one of them seriously, due to a failure of the company to ensure pedestrians and vehicles could move around the yard safely.

It is worth remembering that you cannot insure against receiving a criminal fine.  Timber yards are notoriously risky places to be.  A modest investment of a few thousand pounds would have saved the company from incurring this huge fine.  Organisation of traffic routes is a requirement of the Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations and it has been a statutory requirement since 1992!

Owners of the timber yards need only invest in laying down a proper traffic management plan, with properly marked walkways in the yard and some simple rules for visitors to the yard, with appropriately trained staff.  It might mean the difference between life and death, profit and loss, survival of the business!

For advice about health and safety matters, please use the contact details below, we are happy to assist small to medium sized businesses with any health and safety issues.

Read the IOSH article here