Croydon company Granite Express was in court yesterday (28 March) after an employee was injured by falling slabs of stone while a delivery lorry was being unloaded at the company's Beddington Lane site.

Westminster magistrates, hearing the case, were told that the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) had previously served a prohibition notice on the company in June 2010 during a routine inspection, halting further use of a lifting arm on a fork lift as it was not fit for purpose.

Przemyslaw Zalecki, a company Director, was given specific advice to carry out proper risk assessments and devise a safe system of work for unloading stone slabs from vehicles.

Although the firm complied with the prohibition notice, HSE found after an employee was injured while unloading stone slabs from a lorry in February 2012 that the same lifting arm was back in use.

The investigation also identified that the forklift had not been serviced or maintained, and there had been no operator training.

In addition, the company and Mr Zalecki had failed to implement a safe method of work and to provide employees with instruction or supervision on the day.

The incident happened when employee Radoslaw Samson, 24, was on the trailer with a colleague having removed the packaging supporting the slabs so each could be removed individually by a forklift truck.

As he altered a clamp at the end of a lifting arm attached to the forklift while standing in front of the slabs, the slabs began to topple. Both he and his colleague leapt from the side of the trailer but the falling slabs hit Radoslaw Samson.

He suffered a broken leg and severe bruising to his right side and was on crutches for six months. He was off work for ten months and did not return to work at Granite Express.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and prosecuted Granite Express Ltd (which went into liquidation in November 2012) and its Director, Przemyslaw Zalecki, 37, of Graham Road, Mitcham.

Granite Express, now care of the liquidator’s address in Brighton Road, Croydon, was fined a total of £2,000 with £5,000 in costs after admitting two breaches of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act l974.

Przemyslaw Zalecki was fined a total of £2,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs after pleading guilty to two similar breaches of the Act.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Jane Wolfenden said: “A young man was very seriously injured because of the cavalier attitude tor safety by Mr Zalecki and his company, Granite Express Ltd. Bearing in mind the weight of these stone slabs, it is fortunate that this was not a double fatality.

“Despite the high risk of serious personal injury involved in the handling and moving of stone slabs being well known in the industry, and despite specific advice to devise a safe system of work for unloading them from a vehicle, the defendants failed to respond.

“The attitude towards health and safety was so poor that the company even permitted the continued use of a lifting attachment that had been subject to a prohibition notice.

“HSE will not hesitate to take action against either companies or their directors whose approach to the wellbeing of their employees fall so well below accepted standards.”