Company Director died as a Result of Accident in 'Prehistoric' Fork Lift

A recent coroners inquest into the death in 2010 of Company Director Bob Dawe concluded that his death was the result of an accident in October that year whilst using a 'prehistoric' fork lift truck. The fork lift was described as having 'no effective brakes' and in the incident it had overturned and fatally injured the manager.

The incident, which took place at the truck services company in Somerset, was the result of the use of this 35-40 year old vehicle which had been reported as out of use and in disrepair in a HSE report 2 years previously.The HSE report, which was made on several aspects of the business, had stated that 'as the old fork lift truck is no longer in use you should remove the key and keep it securely' There was dispute as to whether that report was ever received. The deceased's son who worked for the company for 6 years said he had never seen a maintenance report for the truck.