A TRUCK firm has been fined nearly £10,000 after an employee was badly injured falling from the roof of a lorry cab.

Workshop foreman Graham Smith fractured his hip and left elbow in a 10 foot plunge while trying to step onto a ladder at JDS Trucks Ltd in Forrest Street, Blackburn, on December 4, 2009.

Hyndburn Magistrates’ Court heard the 47-year-old from Darwen had climbed onto the roof to assess whether a wind deflector needed to be fitted.

But the ladder had not been secured, and with one foot on the cab and one on the ladder, he slipped.

Mr Smith, who needed two operations and spent four months off work recovering, had worked for the maintenance and repair firm for 12 years.

HSE Inspector Shellie Bee, prosecuting, said he and other workers normally used a combination of ladders and standing on pallets raised by fork lift trucks to do this type of job, because it was quick and convenient.

She said the company had bought a gantry to work from, but no instruction was given on how it should be used and Mr Smith chose not to use it.

Andrew Wolf, defending, said the company had since upgraded its gantry for safe working at height and implemented a safe system of work for fitting wind deflectors.

He added that Mr Smith accepted he should not have used the ladder and did not seek any compensation.

He told the court: “He does accept a substantial amount of culpability on his own part.”

JDS Trucks Ltd pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and one breach of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

The company was fined £9,900 and also ordered to pay £4,613 towards the cost of the prosecution.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Bee, said: “JDS Trucks simply didn’t think about the risks the worker might face if he climbed onto the roof of the cab using a ladder, and put his life in danger as a result.”