An employee at a Cross Hills haulage company died two months after falling from a forklift truck.

Francis Roberts had been lifted on the forks of the truck by a colleague at Joda Freight Ltd when he overbalanced and fell three metres on to a concrete floor, a court heard.

His colleague, Andrew Mason, a qualified forklift truck driver, of The Poplars, Sutton, had lifted him up to the second deck of a lorry to make checks on pallets, Skipton Magistrates heard on Friday.

Mr Roberts was reaching to scan the last pallet when he overbalanced and fell on to the concrete floor of the yard at Riparian Way, Cross Hills, said Paul Yeadon, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive.

Mr Roberts, from Bradford, suffered serious injuries and was taken first to Airedale Hospital and then transferred to St James’s Hospital, Leeds, following the accident, on March 14, 2006.

Mr Roberts, who was 48 years old at the time, was allowed home but was re-admitted to the Leeds hospital where he died on May 18 from medical complications.

An inquest in Harrogate earlier this year recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.

The court heard that there were clear guidelines in the use of forklifts that people should not be lifted on the forks without a purpose-built cage.

Mr Yeadon, for the HSE, said there appeared to be no reason why Mr Roberts had been lifted to make the checks as the pallets would have had to have been lowered to the floor anyway.

He added that Mr Roberts had volunteered to be lifted on the forks after another work colleague — who had been carrying out the pallet scanning — had refused.

Mr Yeadon said it was normal routine practice for all pallets to be removed from the second deck of lorries for scanning on the floor.

He added that employees at the company had confirmed that although forklifts were used as a “step”, they were not used to gain access to the upper deck of lorries.

“Forklift trucks are a very common and very useful piece of kit. If used correctly, they are a fantastic piece of equipment, but if not used correctly, they become very dangerous,” he said.

Mr Yeadon said that Mr Roberts’s widow, Veronica, who was in court, did not solely blame Mason for the accident.

“She does accept that Mason’s actions were incorrect but she would like to point out that that her husband would have to take some of the blame, she does not hold Mason solely responsible for the accident,” he said.

The court heard that Mason pleaded guilty to breaching section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act — that he failed to take reasonable care and allowed Mr Roberts to fall from the vehicle.

In mitigation, John Mewies said Mason had suffered enormous strain in the three years since the accident and that his health and relationship with his wife had suffered. He said Mason and Mr Roberts had not only been work colleagues, but they had also been friends and he added that Mason had been in regular contact with Mrs Roberts since the accident.

Mason was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs and a £15 victims’ surcharge.