Tesco has been fined £160,000 following an accident at its store in Chadwell St Mary, Essex, when an employee was seriously injured when a roll cage fell on her during unloading.
A hearing at Basildon Magistrates’ Court was told that on 30 September 2015 Ms Manze was working alone to unload roll cages containing stock from a delivery truck at the Tesco Express store. As she moved one of the roll cages into the store, it fell on top of her, causing injuries that required hospital treatment.
They included a fractured pelvis. Thurrock Council found that Tesco had not followed its own risk assessment, which requires two people to work together when using roll cages.Tesco pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act and was also ordered to pay £18,118 costs to Thurrock Council.
Councillor Rob Gledhill, leader of Thurrock Council, said: “It is vital that workers are properly protected and safe when they are doing their jobs. We will always take action to ensure that proper standards are maintained by the borough’s employers.
“The size of the fine should serve as a deterrent and a signal to employers that we take the health and safety of our residents and others who work in Thurrock very seriously.” A statement from Tesco said it had now provided retraining for staff at its Chadwell St Mary store.
It added: “We work hard to ensure the safety of our colleagues and are very sorry that Ms Manze was injured in this way. Following this incident, we have reviewed our processes and made a number of changes to protect against this happening again.”
