By Chris Carter, Managing Solicitor · March 2026 · Accident at Work Claims

A national building merchant was fined £2.2 million last week after a worker was crushed to death by a three-tonne pallet of timber on an industrial conveyor. He had climbed inside the machine to remove packaging. A colleague started the conveyor without seeing him.

The worker was killed instantly. He was 56 years old.

But here is the detail that matters most. The HSE investigation found CCTV footage showing that workers had entered the same danger zone 19 times in the five weeks before the fatal incident.

The company knew. They put up stickers asking people not to do it. Nothing else.

That is the gap between knowing about a risk and actually doing something about it. And it is exactly the kind of gap that gives rise to a workplace injury claim.

They Put Up a Sticker and Thought That Was Enough

The HSE prosecution made one thing very clear. The company knew workers were getting into the danger zone around the conveyor. They stuck warning labels on the machine. And they left it at that.

No physical guarding. No interlocks. No change to the system that required people to unwrap pallets inside the machine. Just a sticker.

After the worker died, the company installed guarding and changed the system so pallets were unwrapped before reaching the conveyor. Every one of those measures could have been in place before. The £2.2 million fine reflects that.

But My Employer Told Us About the Risk. Doesn’t That Let Them Off the Hook?

No. Under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, your employer must provide a safe system of work so far as is reasonably practicable.

Telling you about a danger is one small part of that duty. It is not the whole thing.

A safe system of work means eliminating the risk where possible, or controlling it with physical barriers, interlocks, or guarding. If your employer can physically prevent you from reaching a moving machine part, they must.

The hierarchy of control runs in a specific order: eliminate, substitute, isolate, engineer, then administer. Signs and procedures sit near the bottom.

A sticker is an administrative control. When a company chooses that over guarding or isolation, they have skipped the entire top half of the hierarchy. That is a breach.

I Got Hurt at Work and There Were Warning Signs Everywhere. Does That Mean I Can’t Claim?

This is a common fear. “There was a sign saying it was dangerous, so it must be my fault.” It is wrong.

A warning sign does not transfer the employer’s duty onto you. Your employer cannot outsource their legal obligation with a laminated notice. If a physical guard was reasonably practicable and they did not install it, the sign is irrelevant.

This does not mean your own actions play no part at all. If you deliberately ignored clear safety procedures that your employer had properly implemented, that could reduce your compensation through contributory negligence.

But “properly implemented” means much more than a poster on a wall. It means training, supervision, physical controls, and a genuine system that works in practice.

In this case, workers entered the danger zone 19 times in five weeks. If a system relies on people never making a mistake, the system is the failure. In 33 years of handling accident at work claims, this is a pattern we know well.

What Should I Do If I’ve Been Hurt and My Employer Knew About the Risk?

If you have been injured at work and you believe your employer was already aware of the danger, here is what matters right now.

Write down everything you remember about the conditions before the accident. Was there a sign? Had other workers raised the issue? If your workplace has CCTV, note where the cameras are and tell your solicitor immediately.

Your employer is legally required to preserve CCTV footage, risk assessments, training records, and accident book entries once they know a claim is being considered. CCTV systems often record over old footage within 30 days, so act quickly. Read more about employer duty of care.

You have three years from the date of your injury to bring a claim under the Limitation Act 1980. But the sooner you act, the easier it is to secure evidence.