The Alternative Parcel Company (APC) Overnight worker sustained injuries to both legs on 28 November 2015 after he was struck by the vehicle, which was operating in the same area.

The HSE investigation found APC Overnight had failed to ensure agency workers had undergone a suitable induction before being allowed to work where forklift trucks were moving around at the firm’s Sortation Hub in  Cannock in Staffordshire.

APC Overnight, which claims on its website to be the UK’s largest delivery network, with more than 105 locations UK-wide, failed also to explain the measures designed to keep pedestrians and forklift trucks separated to its workers.

The HSE also noted that there was no control of the keys for the vehicles on the day shift, where they were permitted inside the sortation hub, even though they were banned from the building’s interior on the night shift.

APC Overnight pleaded guilty to breaching ss 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act at Cannock Magistrates’ Court. Fined £120,000, the courier service must also pay £10,500 costs.

HSE inspector Steve Shaw said: “Those in control of work have a responsibility to both devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers in the safe system of work. Employers must ensure agency staff have a suitable and sufficient induction, so they can work safely and be safe.”