Tesco fined £300,000 after worker crushed by cage of juice cartons

Piotr Grzela was unloading a lorry outside the Tesco Metro on Magdalen Street in the early hours of February 13, 2018, when the cage toppled over onto him and crushed him against the pavement.

He suffered two severe open fractures in his legs, severed blood vessels and a fracture to his wrist.

Tesco admitted two charges related to breaches of health and safety.

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Yesterday, the supermarket appeared at Reading Magistrates' Court, where a district judge handed out the hefty fine, and said there had been a ‘failure of delivery procedures at every level’ on the night of the accident.

Oxford City Council brought the case to court because of its responsibility to monitor environmental health in the city.

A barrister representing the city council said Mr Grzela had been unloading deliveries onto the street from the back of a lorry with the help of one other member of staff on the night of the accident.

The Tesco Metro on Magdalen Street, Oxford. Picture: Oxford Mail

However, the two workers had been moving roll cages of goods on their own, even though guidance said that each cage should be moved by two people.

The barrister said: “Roll cage delivery is a specific training. Mr Grzela had not received that training. Tesco fully accept he was not trained for the job he was doing."

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Mr Grzela was also not wearing high visibility clothing while unloading the lorry, and the Tesco store had not put out traffic cones around the vehicle.

No one with experience of first aid was on shift at the Tesco that night, and after the accident a member of staff from a nearby nightclub administered first aid to Mr Grzela while he waited for an ambulance.

He spent six weeks in hospital recovering from his injuries and is yet to return to work nearly three years later.

The supermarket did not report the accident to the city council until a week after it happened on February 28, 2018.

A statement from Tesco said this was a mistake due to human error.

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Speaking on behalf of Tesco, barrister Saba Naqshbandi said senior management at the company ‘expressed deep regret’ for what had happened.

She said the company had been in ‘regular contact’ with Mr Grzela after his injuries and that ‘interim payments’ had been made to help him.

Ms Naqshbandi added that the Tesco had made sure proper health and safety processes were now being observed in the Magdalen Street store.

Tesco was slapped with a fine of £300,000 for failing to ensure the health and welfare of Mr Grzela, and for exposing other people to health and safety risks.

It was also ordered to pay costs of £34,294 and a victim surcharge of £170.

In his closing remarks, the district judge commended Mr Grzela’s ‘bravery and determination’ after the accident.

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