A MAN who was accused of breaching health and safety at work after a colleague had his leg crushed by a fork lift truck has been found not guilty.
Hassan Mohammed of Kilburn became store manager at Tile Depot Trading Limited in Cricklewood Broadway Retail Park five days before the incident on 19 June 2008.
Mr Mohammed was charged with failing in the duty of an employee while at work to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and other persons who may be affected by his acts or admissions.
Despite having no training and not holding a license, the court was shown CCTV footage of Mitesh Patel and Anthony Phillips operating the fork lift truck.
Mr Patel was employed by the company to advise customers on the shop floor and to stock the warehouse.
Mr Phillips was employed as a sales assistant and was driving the truck when he lost control.
The twelve-strong jury at Wood Green Crown Court were told the machine reversed, trapping Mr Patel’s leg against a wall.
He had his right leg amputated from below the knee following the incident.
Mr Patel said Mr Mohammed had asked him on two occasions to use the machine to bring tiles from the yard into the warehouse.
He told the court “the keys were always left in the fork lift truck” and he had been shown by Mr Mohammed how to operate the machine’s levers earlier that day.
Mr Mohammed denied telling Mr Patel to use the truck or teaching him how to use it.
He accepted if he had not left the keys in the machine the incident might not have occurred.
However, he said at the time he was not aware the keys should have been taken out because they were in the truck when he first started his job.
In a statement Mr Mohammed said he had “given clear verbal instructions” for unauthorised persons not to use the truck.
He told the court when he saw Mr Patel sat on the stationary vehicle he told him to get off.
Mr Patel said he used the truck because he had “just started the job and was keen on making an impression” but admitted he “didn’t recognise the hazard.”
Mr Phillips admitted “driving equipment without knowing how to use it is obviously dangerous” but said he “wasn’t thinking about that at that time.”
Robert Gilbert and Christopher Sale were directors for the company at the time of the incident.
Both have pleaded guilty to contravening health and safety regulations and will be sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court today.
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