Newsletter #187 (View other news stories)
Runaway forklift almost kills toddler
COBRIDGE, United Kingdom
Thursday, 9 Dec 2004
A three-year-old boy’s rocking horse saved his life after a faulty forklift smashed through his home’s garden wall, burying him in rubble.
According to The Sentinel newspaper, Mitchell Shaw was playing in his garden in Cobridge in the UK when the accident happened in July last year.
A court heard that an apprentice bricklayer from a construction site lost control of a JCB 926 forklift and crashed into the wall.
The court heard the driver had no training, the forklift had faulty brakes and steering, and the building contractor, Friog Management Services, had no adequate health and safety plan in place.
Mitchell spent 48 hours receiving treatment for cuts and bruises at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire after the accident.
The boy’s mother, Julie Shaw, said Mitchell’s life was saved by a rocking horse, which shielded him from the rubble and protected his skull from being crushed.
"Mitchell has made a full recovery ... but after the accident he had a lot of trouble going to sleep and became really paranoid about hospitals and doctors," she said.
Friog director Robert Dixon admitted to three breaches of the UK’s Health & Safety at Work Act.
He pleaded guilty to failing to keep the forklift in good repair, failing to ensure staff were trained to use it, and failing to ensure the safety of people not in his employ. He was committed to be sentenced by the Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on January 17.
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