The 800kg load crushed Wayne Hatton’s legs during a night shift at Amber Precast Ltd’s factory on 14 January 2021.

Hatton, from Doncaster, had his right lower leg amputated with two toes on his left foot also being removed following the incident at Davy Business Park.

The pallet was being removed from a reinforced concrete cast when it fell onto the father-of-two, who had only recently been employed by the firm as a supervisor.

The then 46-year-old spent seven weeks in hospital and now has a prosthetic leg after his right lower leg was amputated.

An HSE investigation found the pallet had not been secured onto the lifting chains of the overhead crane before being removed from the concrete cast. This meant the pallet was not supported whilst being moved.

The investigation also found Amber Precast Ltd failed to consistently implement a system of work to ensure the pallet could be removed safely. Hatton, now 50, and other members on his team had not received any information or instructions on how to remove the pallet safely.

Amber Precast Ltd, of Sheffield, pleaded guilty to safety breaches and was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £5,406.31 in costs at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court last week.

HSE inspector Jane Fox said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided with the correct instruction and implementation of an agreed safe working procedure. Amber Precast Ltd left its employees to work out their own methods of completing the pallet removal task, instead of providing them with suitable training and equipment so it could be done safely every time.”