A SWANLEY paper mill employee who was crushed by a forklift truck has seen the company pay out more than £8,000.

The man suffered three breaks in his right ankle as well as two fractures to his left leg following the incident on October 12, 2011.

A colleague reversed into the victim and he was pinned between the truck and pallets filled with paper goods.

The man, who did not wish to be named, has since returned to work on light duties at the Goldsel Road firm.

Following the hearing at Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court on May 7, Health and Safety executive (HSE) inspector Guy Widdowson said: "The incident was entirely preventable.

"Swan Mill Paper Company failed to make sure that there was a safe vehicle and pedestrian system of work in place within their warehouse.

"Such a system was entirely possible without any detriment to the work being done.

"The incident was in a fairly narrow aisle with restricted visibility.

"The risk of a collision between a moving forklift and a warehouse operative while both are working in the same location is significant and should have been obvious to the company."

Swan Mill was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,069 in costs after admitting a breach of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.

A company spokesman said: "The welfare of our staff is of the utmost importance and we deeply regret this incident.

"We are a family-run firm and we take the safety of all of our 231 employees very seriously.

This is the first time such an incident has occurred on our site and our employee has returned to work with our full support.

"He continues to recover from his injuries and we are doing all we can to support and assist him.

"The health and safety procedures that applied on the day of the incident have been in place for many years and there had been an estimated 26m truck movements without incident prior to his unfortunate accident occurring."