CCTV footage from a logistics company yard where a worker sustained serious head injuries showed staff routinely walking between forklift trucks as they operated.

Andrew Elliss, 53, from Isleworth, was hit by a reversing vehicle in an accident the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said was “entirely foreseeable”.

The incident happened at UCH Logistics Ltd in Staines, Middlesex, in September 2014.

The HSE brought the prosecution because the firm had not ensured that there was adequate segregation between vehicles and pedestrians in the yard.

UCH Logistics told inspectors that no markings to had been painted in the yard when it was resurfaced several years earlier.

Redhill Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Elliss’ injuries cause him ongoing problems.

HSE inspector Russell Beckett said: “Workplace transport incidents are the third highest cause of workplace fatalities, and accidents can be prevented if companies implement simple control measures.

“The need to walk through this area was clearly foreseeable and the risk from vehicle traffic was high. When I saw the CCTV footage, it was clear this was an accident waiting to happen.”

UCH Logistics Ltd, of Staines, Middlesex, was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £942.40 in HSE costs after admitting breaches of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.

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