An Aberdeen-based cargo handling firm has been fined after one of its workers sustained a serious injury.

The Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that the cargo handling group North East Stevedoring Company Limited (NESC) was carrying out work at Clipper Quay, Aberdeen Harbour.

It was revealed that on the morning of June 13, 2013, that a forklift truck operated by an NESC employee was transporting stows (containers) which held loose pipes from Clipper Quay to the quayside within reach of a crane.

One of the Euroline Shipping Company Limited’s shipping agents who oversaw loading operations, Christopher Smith, was on his way to the vessel which the pipes were to be loaded onto when the cargo being transported struck him on the lower back.

As a result of the accident, he suffered fractures of several vertebrae, as well as a left elbow fracture and has not gone back to work since the incident.

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) investigation revealed that NESC had neglected to make sure that the required separation between pedestrians and vehicles was in place. They failed to provide pedestrian routes and as a result they were not excluded from the work area. The report found no evidence of a safe working system in place at Clipper Quay.

The court heard how NESC must take ultimate responsibility for the safety of its workers and the arrangements of their work site.

NESC, based at the Streamline Terminal in Aberdeen’s Blaikies Quay, was fined £12,000 after it pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 17 (1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.

Following the hearing, Sarah Liversidge, HSE inspector, commented: “The law states duty holders must ensure the workplace is organised in such a way that pedestrians and vehicles can circulate in a safe manner.

“NESC failed in that undertaking, there was insufficient separation between vehicles and pedestrians within the loading area at the Quay that resulted in Mr Smith sustaining serious injury that has prevented him from returning to work.”