A SHOP-FITTING and joinery company has been prosecuted after an employee’s legs were crushed under improperly stored wooden boards.

Mr Barrington, 60, a former joiner of Kings Road, Chingford, was helping a colleague at Corvale Ltd in Barrows Road, Harlow, to get a large piece of MDF (medium density fibreboard) from the middle of a vertical storage stack.

He supported several boards himself when he collapsed under the stack’s weight.

The boards crushed him against a machine, with his knees taking the full impact.

The incident caused ligament damage to both of Mr Barrington’s knees, requiring surgery plus on-going treatment.

Mr Barrington has not been able to work since the incident in August last year.

The Health and Safety Executive carried out an investigation at the Essex-based company and found it had breached health and safety at work regulations by failing to provide a safe system of work for the storage and management of MDF and other sheets of wood.

Corvale Ltd admitted breaching Section 2.1 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

It was sentenced yesterday at Harlow Magistrates' Court and was fined £2,667 and required to pay costs of £2,460.80.

Health and Safety Executive inspector, Vicky Fletcher, said: “Workers should never have to put themselves at risk in order to carry out routine tasks as part of their work. This incident illustrates what can happen when employers fail to provide a safe working environment for their staff.

“In this case the boards tipped out of control because they were not being stored in a fixed racking system. Even though Corvale responded immediately, the incident would not have happened had they considered the risk earlier and taken action.

“HSE will not hesitate to prosecute companies who put staff at risk through their lack of respect of health and safety procedures.”

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