Health and safety at work

Case study

James Lumsden is the owner of a successful chain of pubs in Brighton. In one of his pubs there has been a shortage of storage space, which around this time of year causes particular problems with respect to the storage of dry store goods.

Lumsden was made aware of the problem and arranged for an additional area to be refitted in order to accommodate the surplus. In the meantime, he arranged for temporary storage and carried out a further risk assessment in respect of that storage.

He also issued written guidance to the manager of the pub stating how the goods should be stored. In turn, the manager circulated the written guidance to his staff and covered the issue of storage during an in-house training session.

Unfortunately, a delivery was made during a lunchtime when the manager was absent, and a junior member of staff arranged for the delivery to be put in the already crowded storage area.

On his return, the manager spotted the problem and asked two members of staff to rectify the matter immediately. As these members of staff were arranging the goods, a catering size can of baked beans fell from the top shelf, knocking one of the members of staff off his ladder, resulting in a fractured wrist.

Being a stickler for health and safety rules, Lumsden ensured that his manager reported the injury to the local Environmental Health department, but received a letter to say that the incident is now under investigation.

Lumsden feels that he did all he could to prevent the accident. In his view, the blame lies entirely with the junior member of staff for not following instructions.

This case study is a work of fiction and consequently the names, characters and incidents portrayed in the article are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.