Collapse of Vehicle Ramp costs garage a total of £21,211

A car dealership was fined £14,000 after an employee was fortunate not to be killed when the ramp he was working beneath collapsed.

The employee was working underneath a van when the hydraulic ramp supporting it collapsed. The employee escaped from beneath the 2.8 tonne vehicle with cuts and bruises, however the incident could well have proved fatal. The court heard that the accident happened because the garage had failed to ensure that the vehicle ramp was kept in good repair. Although the garage contracted a specialist company to carry out thorough examinations of its lifting equipment, an oversight meant that the ramp had gone untested for over 2 years.

The HSE recommends that examinations of higher risk equipment should take place every 6 months. However because this particular garage was not monitoring its health and safety arrangements, it failed to notice that the statutory examinations had not been carried out. The garage was fined £14,000 under Section 2(1) of the HASWA. The company was also ordered to pay the employee £5,000 compensation as well as £2,211 in prosecution costs.

Once again, your partnership  with mhl is designed to protect you from the serious health & safety failings that could lead to this kind of court action.