Repair firm fined after man crushed at London garage

A North London garage has been fined £12,000 after a customer was crushed by his own vehicle.

Mahmut Emanet is “lucky to be alive”, according to an inspector from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Emanet spent six days in a critical care unit after he sustained serious crush injuries in the incident which left him with permanent and life changing injuries.

He had taken his company vehicle to be serviced at Silver Street Service Garage Limited on College Close, on 15 August 2022. Company director Seyit Dilek left him standing under the vehicle while it was raised on a vehicle lift and as he walked away the vehicle fell off the lift and on to Emanet.

The HSE investigation found that Silver Street Service Garage failed to ensure that members of the public were not exposed to health and safety risks. The company also failed to ensure that the equipment had been thoroughly examined for any defects.

Dilek was in control of the garage at the time of the incident so was directly responsible for the way work was conducted and access was managed on site. The HSE said he failed to ensure that members of the public were not exposed to health and safety risks.

Silver Street Service Garage Limited of College Close, London, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and guilty to a contravention of Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations. The company was fined £12,000 and was ordered to pay £2,406 costs at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 7 December.

At the same hearing, Dilek of Waltham Abbey, London, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £500 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs

After the hearing, HSE inspector Michelle Morphy said: “Mr Emanet is lucky to be alive. This incident could have been avoided if he had simply been asked to stay in the waiting area provided for members of the public.

“Instead, not only was he left to move freely around the two-post vehicle lift on which his vehicle was raised, he was asked by a director of the business to assist with the work being carried out, in the minutes before it fell.”

The HSE said it has previously warned workers of the dangers of poorly supported vehicle.

In total, 24 workers in the motor vehicle repair industry have been killed in work-related accidents in the last five years, with the fatal injury rate in the motor vehicle repair industry around five times the average rate across all industries. Recent research suggests that over half of all fatal injuries in the sector were caused by work under a poorly supported vehicle.

It added that guidance dealing with health and safety in the motor industry is available.