A CAR components company has been ordered to pay a total of £5,851 after a worker was badly injured in an accident on site.

Trevor Rollin became trapped when a tooling rack collapsed on him at International Automotive Components Group's Southwick plant in Sunderland.

He was using an overhead crane to unload tools from the single bay rack when it collapsed.

Mr Rollin, of Farringdon, Sunderland, suffered multiple fractures, cuts and bruises, in the accident, on August 16, last year.

Birmingham-based International Automotive Components admitted a single breach of health and safety regulations, in a case brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), at Sunderland Magistrates' Court.

The company was fined a total of £3,350 and ordered to pay £2,636 costs.

HSE inspector Fiona MacNeill, said: "Mr Rollin was lucky not to have been killed by the racking when it overturned.

"Employers should learn a lesson from this incident, that the safety of work equipment cannot be taken for granted.

"Safety does not manage itself.

"Risk management is a proactive process and employers should assess and prioritise the more serious risks in their premises."

The company admitted breaching a regulation of the Health and Safety at Work regulations relating to provision and use of equipment, by failing to ensure that the racking used for tool storage was stabilised, either by clamping or other means.