Streamline Shipping Agencies Limited has been fined after a yard operative was struck by a forklift truck at its Aberdeen Harbour premises.  The employee suffered serious and life-changing injuries at the company’s yard.

An HSE investigation found the company failed to ensure adequate separation between pedestrians and vehicles during loading and unloading operations.

The 43-year-old man was working at Streamline’s premises at Palmerston Quay, Aberdeen, when he was struck by a reversing forklift truck driven by a colleague on 26 September 2024. The worker was on foot, unclipping the curtain side of an articulated trailer, when the rear nearside wheel of the forklift made contact with his right leg, pulling him to the ground.

The worker suffered multiple fractures to his right foot and lower leg, as well as a de-gloving injury, undergoing two surgical procedures and skin grafts. He has also required counselling because of the incident and has yet to return to work.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Streamline failed to ensure its workplace was organised in such a way that pedestrians and vehicles could circulate safely. While the company had a traffic management plan in place, it lacked the necessary detail to ensure that loading and unloading – which routinely took place concurrently in the same area – could be carried out safely without putting employees on foot at risk from moving vehicles.

HSE concluded it was reasonably foreseeable that an employee on foot faced a risk of being struck by a moving vehicle when both the pedestrian and driver were concentrating on their respective tasks near each other.

Following the investigation, an Improvement Notice was served on the company. In response, Streamline made a series of improvements to its traffic management arrangements to the satisfaction of HSE.

By law, employers must ensure traffic routes can be used without putting workers at risk. Guidance on managing vehicle movements in the workplace is available on the HSE website.

Streamline Shipping Agencies Limited, of Streamline Terminal, Blaikies Quay, Aberdeen, AB11 5PU, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 17(1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and Section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

The company was fined £146,700 and ordered to pay a Victim Surcharge of £11,000 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on 22 May 2026.

HSE Inspector Nicky Smith said:

“This was a serious and wholly avoidable incident that has had a profound and lasting impact on this worker’s life.

“Employers have a legal duty to ensure that pedestrians and vehicles can move safely within their workplaces, particularly in busy areas where loading and unloading takes place.

“Having a traffic management plan is not enough if it does not contain the detail needed to protect workers on the ground.

“We will not hesitate to hold companies to account when they fall short of their obligations.”

Are your staff adequately trained?

You may have staff who know how to operate, but have they been adequately trained?  If they’ve had no formal training before, they may not have the necessary knowledge and understanding around how to operate a truck safely around pedestrians.

Our RTITB accredited forklift training courses ensures that operators not only understand how to operate a forklift but also how to consider those around them including pedestrians and other workers.   To see our range of courses, please click here.  

Our high-quality training is the best way to ensure that your forklift operators have been told everything they need to know to keep themselves and all others on site safe.

Don’t miss out on your chance to book onto our next RTITB instructor courses at our RTITB accredited training centre in Swindon.

We’re running novice and re-qualification courses in July, and spaces are still available.

So if you’re thinking of becoming an instructor, or you need to renew your licence, we can help you.

Novice training

Are you an operator who really enjoys operating forklifts and is looking for a new challenge?  Have you ever wanted to pass on your experience to others?  Are you looking for a way to progress your career and improve your employability?

Then look no further with our initial novice course.

Suitable for anyone with 6 months of operating experience, you will learn all the skills you need to teach and test how to operate a forklift truck.

Covering essential skills such as conducting lessons, understanding the regulations and compliance, and mastering the art of assessments.

Re-qualification training

Our 5-day course is designed to ensure your training skills are kept sharp and in line with the latest techniques and legislation.  It’s a great way to get back into the classroom with other instructors and share tips, experiences, best practices and generally improve yourself as an instructor.

For further information about these courses, please click here.

 Why Choose Us for Forklift Instructor Training?

• Accredited – our courses are accredited and meet the exacting standards of RTITB, the UK’s gold standard in MHE training
• Experienced Trainers – Gain all the practical, real-world experience throughout the course from our fully qualified tutors, who will pass on their wealth of experience to you, to ensure you’re confident when training others
• Bespoke Training Centre – Train at our modern facility with everything supplied within your price, including trucks, paperwork, certificates and refreshments throughout
• Onsite training – If you have a group of operators in your business that would like to become operator instructors, then we can run this training at your site, on your trucks, saving your operators travel expenses and making their training fully relevant to your operations (subject to meeting the Facilities Criteria)

Are you ready to take your forklift experience to the next level by becoming an instructor? Join a community that is shaping safer warehousing and transport operations across the country.

How to book

Our first courses are running in July as follows:

• Novice course – Monday 6th to Friday 17th July (10 days)
• Re-ref course – Monday 13th to Friday 17th July (5 days)

Spaces are limited and in high demand, don’t delay and book your space with us today.

The family of a much-loved man have spoken of his ‘horrific’ death at work following the prosecution of his employer.

Chris Keegan was killed on 20 November 2023 while working for Hessle Plant Ltd as a delivery driver at its main depot in Castleford, West Yorkshire. Chris’ widow Dianne said: “Chris was a wonderful, kind and generous man, who would do anything he could for anyone. He especially did anything he could for me.

“My heart is broken, and I will never get over losing my husband in such a horrific way. He never deserved to die in such tragic circumstances.”

Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Keegan had been tasked with returning the forklift truck to a customer’s site in Sheffield following repair work to its transmission.

As he reversed the vehicle onto the trailer shortly after 6am, it fell from the side of the trailer bed. Mr Keegan was thrown from the seat and became trapped between the chassis of the forklift and a neighbouring trailer.

Mr Keegans wife and two of his stepdaughters arrived at the depot as the emergency services fought to save Chris’ life, but tragically his injuries proved fatal, and he passed away at the scene.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the forklift had not been subject to a full inspection to ensure it was safe to operate. Examination of the forklift by HSE after the accident found several other defects which should have been identified and rectified before it was operated.

The investigation found that whilst Hessle Plant Ltd would undertake a full pre-delivery inspection on forklift trucks being delivered to new customers, at the time of the accident the company did not do this for machines being returned to existing customers.

HSE also found that many of the company’s employees would rarely wear seatbelts when operating forklift trucks, and there was no system in place for monitoring and enforcing seatbelt use on site.

HSE guidance states that employers should ensure that work equipment – such as a forklift truck – has been properly maintained and inspected if necessary to ensure it remains in a safe condition to operate. HSE guidance also states that where seatbelts are fitted to a counterbalance forklift truck, they should be used.

Hessle Plant Ltd, of Carrwood Road Industrial Estate, Glasshoughton, Castleford, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £433,550 and ordered to pay £8,146.80 in costs and a £2,000 victim surcharge as Leeds Magistrates’ Court on 26 November 2025.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector, David Beaton, said: “This was a tragic and preventable death. Mr Keegan was placed at undue risk by operating a machine with underlying maintenance defects, which he would have been unaware of when attempting to reverse the forklift in the dark onto a trailer with an exposed edge.

“Had Mr Keegan been wearing the seatbelt provided, the accident he suffered would likely not have proven fatal.

“Every year there are fatal accidents caused by machinery which has not been properly maintained or inspected, and forklift truck drivers not wearing seatbelts. This case should underline to all businesses, which hire out or operate forklift trucks, the importance of keeping machinery in efficient working order and ensuring the use of seatbelts by forklift drivers is appropriately supervised.”

To ensure everyone operating a forklift truck knows how to do so safely, ensure they receive high quality, accredited training with us today.  For a list of our forklift courses, please visit our website.

Our thoughts are with Chris’s family whilst they deal with the ongoing pain this awful incident.

You may remember that in July 2025 the Accrediting Bodies Association (ABA) announced that it will be updating workplace transport categories to ensure they remain useful.

These changes will officially take effect on January 19th, 2026.

The single most important takeaways are this: Certificates issued before 19/01/26 for categories that are being changed will remain valid, the RTITB website verification service will be updated, and you can request updated certificates for all categories where required except SP1 and M4.

There are some new categories being added, some categories being removed and so new training materials will be available to reflect these category changes. 

Who is affected?

These updates will be mandatory for all accrediting bodies, including RTITB. The changes will affect all of our materials handling equipment training paperwork, including certificates.

Why these changes matter to you

To remain compliant all training and testing should reflect the new categories from 19th January 2026.  We will ensure that when we carry out MHE training, we will use the new, compliant paperwork and your new certificates will reflect these new categories, so you can we certain that you will remain compliant as well.

If you are not sure, please give us a call and we’ll guide you through the changes.

We are delighted to announce that we are now able to deliver RTITB instructor courses at our RTITB accredited training centre in Swindon.

Our range of courses means that no matter at what point of your journey towards becoming an instructor you are on, we can help you.

• Accredited – our courses are accredited and meet the exacting standards of RTITB, the UK’s gold standard in MHE training
• Experienced Trainers – Gain all the practical, real-world experience throughout the course from our fully qualified tutors, who will pass on their wealth of experience to you, to ensure you’re confident when training others
• Bespoke Training Centre – Train at our modern facility with everything supplied within your price, including trucks, paperwork, certificates and refreshments throughout
• Onsite training – If you have a group of operators in your business that would like to become operator instructors, then we can run this training at your site, on your trucks, saving your operators travel expenses and making their training fully relevant to your operations (subject to meeting the Facilities Criteria)

Did you know that there is no reliable national data in the UK on incidents involving forklifts and other manual handling accidents?  Data is currently fragmented and relies on many different organisations recording these incidents and the HSE has to then collate this information.

Now, the UK Material Handling Association (UKMHA) has launched its industry-first Incident Reporting Portal, which will capture and analyse vital information about the causes of accidents and ways to prevent them occurring in future in one central place.

They are urging all warehouse operatives and manual handling professionals to join in and play their part in reducing accidents by logging incidents on their new online platform.  This will then capture and analyse vital information about the causes of accidents and ways to prevent them occurring in future.

Why do we need this data?

Without accurate statistics, the scale and nature of accidents remain unclear, making it difficult to target improvements in training, site practices, or even machine design.

The UKMHA has made a significant investment in its new portal which aims to fill the knowledge gap. By encouraging businesses to upload information on accidents, near misses and unsafe occurrences, the association can build a clearer picture of the risks faced daily by professionals.

David Goss, UKMHA Technical Director, said: “If we are to improve safety around material handling equipment, then we must gather as much information as we can into the circumstances surrounding incidents. Only by doing this can we hope to understand why accidents occur and make the necessary improvements thereafter. This portal is not about blame – it’s about creating solutions.”

Open to everyone who works in the material handling industry, the portal provides a simple, confidential way to report incidents. Users are asked to share details such as the circumstances leading up to the incident, the type of equipment involved and the severity of any injuries. Even seemingly minor issues, such as near misses or damage-only events, can provide valuable insights.

All data is submitted anonymously, and every report is reviewed by UKMHA staff with the utmost privacy. Reports are not intended to replace legal requirements such as RIDDOR submissions, nor will they trigger follow-up action unless specifically requested. Instead, the information will be aggregated to identify wider industry trends.

The UKMHA is urging safety managers, supervisors and anyone else with knowledge of an incident to use the portal. Contributors are reminded to include a time, date, and partial postcode to help avoid duplicate entries, and to refrain from including personal names or company details.

Rob Fisher, Chief Executive of UKMHA, reinforced the urgency of industry participation, adding: “Knowledge is power, but only if it is shared. Every report submitted, no matter how small, has the potential to help prevent future accidents. Safety never sleeps, and with industry support we can make a real difference”.

To access the portal, and for more information about it, please visit https://nationalforkliftsafetyday.co.uk/about-the-incident-reporting-portal/

We wholeheartedly support the UKMHA in their efforts to make every day Forklift Safety Day, and our accredited training helps us by improving operator safety, one forklift operator at a time.  For information on our accredited forklift courses – please see here.

As a proud partner of RTITB, we’ve got access to some of the finest training materials in our industry, so we are delighted to share with you this extremely useful guide they have produced for all businesses where lift trucks are in operation.

This simple guide explains that there are several steps to ensuring safe and efficient operations using lift trucks and enables you to check that you have everything in place to ensure your operators are skilled correctly, and that your business is compliant.

Safe and skilled operators result in a reduction in operation costs, so you can improve safety for your staff and save money at the same time.

Common misconceptions.

A lot of businesses think that once they have trained their operators on how the truck works, then they are ready to start operating on site.

However, there are 3 stages to this training, and if your training was carried out by an external training provider like us, then the second and third stages are often missed.

You must carry out specific job training, which enables the operator to learn the specifics about the trucks you have on site, and you must then carry out familiarisation training, which enables the operator to try out live work under supervision in your own premises.

Then and only then should your business issue them an Authorisation to operate.  This is a formal record of the stages of training your operators have gone through and the operations they are able to undertake in your business.

The guide explains all of this in detail and will point you to further information if you need it.  And it also explains the three types of training that are required after your initial training.

If you are interested in our wide range of lift truck training courses for your operators, then please click here for more information.

We hope this resource is of interest to you, and we’re always here to help if you have any questions about operator training.

A metal fabrication company has been fined £40,000 after an employee suffered a serious leg fracture that led to a below the knee amputation.

The 37-year-old man and a colleague had been loading a steel beam onto the bed of a lorry in the visitors’ car park of London Gates and Railings Ltd in Watford on 30 August 2022. His colleague was operating a forklift truck (FLT) with the steel beam suspended from it using a sling attachment

The man had been walking ahead of it using his hands to stabilise the beam. However, as the FLT moved forwards, the man’s foot was caught by the front wheel of the FLT resulting in serious injuries to his lower leg.

At the time of the accident members of the public were present in the visitors’ car park. The man’s injuries were so serious he had to have surgery to have the lower part of his leg amputated.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that London Gates and Railings Ltd failed to properly assess the risk for loading lorries and provide a suitable safe system of work.

Additionally, the FLT operator had not been trained and access to and use of the FLT was not adequately controlled. There were also inadequate measures in place to segregate pedestrians, including members of the public, from workplace transport and associated lifting operations.

London Gates and Railings Ltd of Guillmore Farm, Sandy Lane, Watford, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £5,114 costs at a hearing at St. Albans Magistrates Court on 10 December 2024.

HSE Inspector Adam Johnson said: “Incidents involving fork lift trucks (FLT’s) and work place transport remain one of the most common causes of work-related accidents in this country.

“In this case, a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk, together with a planned safe system of work should have been completed.

“Only workers who are trained and authorised should operate FLT’s. Access and use of them should be properly controlled. Adequate measures must also be in place to properly segregate pedestrians from workplace transport and associated operations”

Are you confident that your operators have the right level of training?  We offer courses for those with operating experience, but no formal training, so it’s never too late to get your staff correctly trained.

Please click here for our range of forklift courses.

We’re ready to help you keep your business safe for visitors and staff alike.

We offer a range of conversion courses, but we’re often asked lots of questions about them, so here are some key pieces of information for you. 

A Cheshire farm owner has been fined after a man fell to his death from a forklift truck while attempting to repair the roof of a packing shed at his premises in Tarporley.

Denis Thornhill and his company D.S. Thornhill (Rushton) Limited were fined a combined £16,000 after 64-year-old Mark Young was killed at Moss Hall Farm on 1 February 2021.