THIS is the moment an Eden man was caught on camera fixing a street light after he climbed a forklift truck stacked with 15 wooden pallets balanced precariously on top.

The picture was released by Lancaster City Council after 69-year-old Stephen Fawcett pleaded guilty to health and safety at work breaches.

Fawcett, of Newby Court, Newby, near Shap, manages Vickers Industrial Estate in Morecambe alongside Jonathan Shaw, 44, of Bailrigg Lane, Lancaster.

The city council said Fawcett had no harness or safety equipment to prevent him from falling and there were also no preventative measures in place on the ground to prevent people from coming within dangerous distance of the machinery.

Both were fined £8,000 plus a victim surcharge of £120, together with costs of £1,681.50, when they appeared at Lancaster Magistrates Court.

The council said the duo were reported after a passer-by saw them fixing a street light.

They said to reach the light, which was approximately nine metres high, they had attached 15 wooden pallets to a forklift truck.

On the top of the pallets was a metal cage, specifically designed to be attached to the truck, in which Fawcett was standing, added the council.

The pallets and cage were held together by one ratchet-tensioned webbing strap attached around the width of the pallets.

There was no strap tying together the pallets and cage from front to back, nor were the pallets positively locked to the forklift truck.

"This arrangement was at best precarious and at worst reckless, being potentially dangerous to anyone using it or anyone near it," said a council spokesperson.

Shaw was at the base of the forklift truck looking up and was in immediate danger if the platform had collapsed.

After considering the potential danger of the incident, and that Fawcett had previously been given health and safety advice and been warned about the dangers of working from height, the council decided to prosecute them both under sections 3(2) and 33(1)(a) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Cllr Karen Leytham, cabinet member with responsibility for environmental health, said: “Falls from height are the biggest cause of workplace deaths and it is crucial that work is properly planned, appropriately supervised and that sufficient measures are put in place to protect both staff and the public.

“The council’s investigation revealed serious and wilful failures to adequately protect persons from serious risk of injury and potential loss of life.”