Ferryspeed fined £40,000 for safety breach

Monday 16 December 2019

Ferryspeed Guernsey Ltd has been fined £40,000 after a member of the public broke his leg, while helping to lift a pallet off one of the company's trucks.

On 12 May 2017 a driver, who had been employed at Ferryspeed for two years, set off with a 285kg pallet of lawn edging.

The package was being delivered, by truck, to a private estate which the company had visited often before. 

Ferryspeed claims a supervisor briefed the driver before he left the depot, telling him where to go and advising him to take the package apart before attempting to lift it off the truck. The supervisor suggested the driver seek help from a team of gardeners at the estate, who had given a hand to the last delivery driver.

The supervisor passed over a waybill with information on the item, including its weight and dimensions, as well as the delivery address.

Pictured: The case was heard before Guernsey's Royal Court.

Although drivers are expected to look over the waybill, this driver claims he did not and was therefore unsure of just how heavy the package was.

A group of gardeners - different to those who had helped on the last occasion - came to help the driver when he arrived at the estate. They hadn't been expecting the delivery, but offered to help when they saw the driver struggling to undo straps holding the package in place. One of the team got in the truck to assist, while the other two remained outside.

Once the pallet was freed, the pair inside the truck began to move it close to the edge. The two gardeners on the ground were told by the driver to take hold of one side of the package, without taking it apart. While they were attempting to lift it, the pallet slipped.

One of the gardeners managed to jump out of the way, but the other was hit by the pallet which landed on his leg. His limb was broken in three places and required two rounds of surgery before the he could have a phased return to work the following year.

"I wouldn't want to go through that again for all the tea in China," the victim wrote to the Royal Court. He explained how revisiting the scene at work is "not doing my mental health any good" and said he is still in pain on a daily basis.

Pictured: The victim was treated at the emergency department.

At the time, Ferryspeed had no specific policies on how to deal with heavy or oversized loads. It pleaded guilty to two counts of breaking the Health and Safety Law for putting both the driver and members of the public at risk as a result.

Deputy Bailiff Richard McMahon said the victim had been "fortunate because he only suffered a badly broken leg" and that the incident could have been much more serious.

"The key as far as the court in concerned is the absence of anything written down," he added. "Ferryspeed was too reliant on giving oral instructions instead of having written materials available to its employees."

However, the court was satisfied with the steps the company has taken since the incident to improve its health and safety regime.

"Health and safety is there for a real reason," Mr McMahon explained. "There has to be an element of deterrence. There are no shortcuts that can be taken in complying with health and safety requirements."

The company was fined £20,000 for each of the two counts.

"While we regret that injury was caused, Ferryspeed would like to offer reassurance that this was very much an isolated incident," a spokesperson for the company said. "We currently deliver an estimated 600 consignments per day to customers in Guernsey alone, and in 30 years of trading this is the only prosecution we have faced.

"Ferryspeed is committed to continual improvement in all areas of the business and will redouble efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of staff, our customers and members of the public."

Pictured top: Image from ferryspeed.com.