A court has fined John Lewis PLC £1.2m after an agency worker suffered serious injuries at its warehouse in Magna Park in 2022.
The incident took place in February 2022 and resulted in the worker falling from steps over a conveyor belt. The small steps were without handrails, presenting a significant risk of slips, trips and falls, which was exacerbated by confined headspace.
The injured person sustained a broken hip which required extensive surgery and resulted in long-term complications.
Following the accident, Milton Keynes City Council’s Environmental Health Team investigated and determined the steps at the warehouse were unsafe and were an obvious and imminent risk. The city council served a prohibition notice on John Lewis to immediately prevent the use of steps without handrails across operational conveyor belts in the warehouse.
Following a review of all the evidence gathered by the city council, a decision was made to proceed with prosecution against the company for the health and safety breaches which led to the injuries.
At Oxford Magistrates Court, John Lewis PLC submitted guilty pleas, admitting Health and Safety breaches under section 2, section 3 and section 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for failing to protect the health, safety and welfare of its employees and regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999.
The court heard that the company had failed in several areas, including:
- Failing to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for crossing conveyor belts
- Not providing and maintaining a safe system of work for employees and agency workers
- Not providing adequate information, instruction and training for staff
In sentencing last week, the Judge stated that “the nature of the manoeuvre he was required to take was inherently unsafe“ and that “the offence was a significant cause of the actual harm suffered”. She ordered John Lewis PLC to pay a £1.2 million fine after granting a reduction following the company’s early guilty plea, remorse for the incident and compliance with the investigation. The company was ordered to pay full costs of £11,271 and a statutory surcharge of £190.
“The result of this case and the significant fine imposed highlights why employers must make health and safety their number one priority. Failure to do so can lead to real harm with devastating consequences. Slips, trips and falls are a major cause of injury in workplaces and the onus is on businesses to ensure they provide safe working environments. There are lessons to be learnt from this case to prevent similar incidents in the future.”