Volvo Group UK has been fined £13,333 after an employee fractured his spine when a truck rolled forward, crushing him at a depot in Glasgow.
Glasgow Sheriff Court was told that the employee was testing the brakes of a low-loader truck unit and trailer at the Cardonald depot when the incident happened on 7 June 2016.
The employee had raised the trailer off the ground using a pit jack. However, he did not apply the vehicle's handbrake or use any wheel chocks to prevent it from rolling. As he was adjusting the brakes at the first axle, the truck unit rolled forward causing the jack to slip off the trailer's axle. The vehicle rolled towards the employee and struck him on the body, crushing him against a set of steps in the pit.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Volvo Group UK had failed to provide a sufficient number of wheel chocks for use by its employees. The company also did not provide information, instruction, supervision and training for its employees in their use. The regulator found that Volvo Group UK also failed to provide a suitable induction for the employee in safe working practices.
Volvo Group UK, of Wedgnock Lane, Warwick, pleaded guilty to breaching ss 2 and 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
HSE inspector Jennie Stafford said: "Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training for their workers in the safe system of working."