An inquest has been opened into the death of a forklift truck driver at the Penrith site of leading timber door manufacturer JELD-WEN.
Lukasz Posadzy, who lived at White Hart Yard in the town, died at the company’s Mardale Road premises on January 9 this year.
HM Coroners’ Office and Inquest Court, at Workington, heard this morning that the cause of Mr Posadzy’s death, following a post mortem examination, was provisionally given as multiple injuries.
Senior coroner for Cumbria Kirsty Gomersal noted that Poland-born Mr Posadzy had been employed as a forklift driver and was at his place of work at Mardale Road on January 9.
“He was in the process of unclipping the curtain of a lorry parked at the premises and as he did so two loads of board fell from the wagon, striking Mr Posadzy and causing him to fall to the ground,” said the coroner, outlining brief circumstances of the incident.
Mr Posadzy had been rendered unconscious and was pronounced dead at 4.20pm. A colleague confirmed Mr Posadzy’s identity to police at the site.
The court heard the incident happened six days before Mr Posadzy’s 36th birthday.
The Health and Safety Executive has launched an investigation. Miss Gomersal said she envisaged that the enquiries would take some time to resolve.
As a result, Miss Gomersal exercised legal powers to suspend the coroner’s investigation and inquest proceedings, pending the outcome of the HSE probe.
A full inquest was needed and would take place on a future date, concluded the coroner, who confirmed that she would seek an update from the HSE in due course.
