Haulage firm not guilty over driver’s death
A SHETLAND haulage company has been found not guilty of any responsibility for the death of one of its drivers by failing to ensure his health and safety following a week long jury trial at Lerwick Sheriff Court.
Geoffrey Davies, aged 57, of Scraefield, Balliasta, Unst, died after being crushed under a forklift truck, which toppled as he drove it off a lorry at nearby Baltasound on a frosty morning almost four years ago.
RS Henderson, of Cullivoe, Yell, denied two charges of failing to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and failing to ensure the safety of their employees for the delivery of the forklift.
A jury of 10 men and five women took just over an hour to unanimously find the company not guilty of providing an adequate risk assessment.
They found the company not guilty by a majority over the charge of failing to ensure Davies’ safety by providing a safe system for loading and unloading the forklift, or providing information, instruction or training for the task.
Davies had driven to Lerwick to collect the Hyster forklift from Lerwick RE Watt a few days before driving with his 10 year old son to deliver it to the Unst Shellfish mussel factory on Saturday 13 February 2010.
The forklift toppled over onto him as he drove it down ramps from the lorry, which were alleged to have been too steep and slippery to maintain sufficient traction.
The trial heard that his distraught son tried to lift the forklift off his father before alerting a passing driver, having failed to find anyone at home nearby. Davies died at the scene from his injuries.
The trial heard expert witnesses for both the defence and prosecution who debated whether the forklift truck should have been driven or lifted off the lorry by a crane.
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The defence had argued that the truck should have been lifted off the lorry in what their witness said was a “basic” lift and it was the driver’s decision to drive the forklift off the truck.
The prosecution had said the lift would have been more complicated, grading it as “intermediate”, also saying that it would never have been safe to drive a forklift off such a lorry.
Before the jury went out to deliberate, Sheriff Philip Mann had instructed them that there was sufficient evidence in law to justify a conviction.
However it was the jury’s decision to weigh up the balance of probabilities as to whether the company had done all that was reasonably practicable to ensure the health and safety of the driver.
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