A company manufacturing precast concrete panels was fined after a worker was injured while loading freestanding concrete units onto a vehicle.

Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard how on 8 August 2014 a contractor working for Unbrako Precast Concrete of Langar, Nottinghamshire, was loading freestanding concrete units on to his vehicle using a sideloader.

He was unscrewing a lifting shackle from the top of the concrete units when an attachment slid off the forks of the sideloader. The attachment struck him, knocking him off the vehicle. He suffered a broken collar bone, fractures to both shoulders and two broken ribs.

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) determined that there was an inadequate risk assessment and an inadequate safe system of work.

Unbrako Precast Concrete Ltd of Southfields Business Park, Langar, was fined £26,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,579 after admitting offences under Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 3 of the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Lindsay Bentley said: “This incident was entirely avoidable, had the risks been adequately assessed. The injured person should not have been near the moving sideloader or on the back of the trailer.”