A company has been fined £5,600 with £9,000 costs for failing to ensure an adequate risk assessment had been carried out after a driver slipped and broke his ankle.
Coventry Magistrates' Court heard how an agency driver was left stranded alone for 20 minutes after he began preparing to fill his lorry with diesel at Sunlight Services Group's depot.
He slipped on the wooden decking next to a fuel pump and was able to raise the alarm only by ringing his wife on his mobile phone.
When paramedics arrived they also found the decking slippery and had to remove some of it before they could move him to an ambulance.
Surgeons needed to insert a plate and two pins to repair his ankle, which had also dislocated. The company pleaded guilty to breaching workplace and management of health and safety regulations.
HSE inspector Pamela Folsom says: "An incident like this can often be seen as trivial and laughed off by employers but the cost to businesses and victims mean it is no laughing matter. In this case, the dangers should easily have been identified with even a basic risk assessment."
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